Mistress of the Cards
by C.Queen
Summary: There's a new Cardcaptor Mistress in town and she's Heero Yuy's daughter. Think a Sakura with attitude after the cards. Not as bad as it sounds so check it out.
1. The New Beginning

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot.

Sakura : The New Chapter

I have been called a sorceress and an angel. A warrior and the bringer of peace. A changeling and a mystical being. A teacher and a protector of man. I am all these things and more. My name is of no importance, you would not have heard of me anyway. I travel in forms that change at my will and few know my true form or name. The only thing you need to know is a story from the past and how it will effect the future. There once was a powerful sorcerer named Clow who created a book which held very special cards. These cards contained powers beyond most humans understanding and were very dangerous. Centuries after he died the book and cards came into the possession of a young girl who through hardship and turmoil claimed the cards and their powers as her own. Along with the book and its cards came the sorcerer's two loyal servants called Keroberos and Yue who he had created and who were in charge of watching over the new mistress of the cards. They were the guardians of the Sakura Cards. When it came time for her to create her own guardians the girl, Sakura, hesitated to create them because she was happy with her present guardians and had no wish to replace them with her own. So instead she created a guardian for her true love, Li Syaoran, to watch over him and the many who had a place in her heart. And so the Eternal Love Card was created and for the first time a card didn't depend upon magic to work. Instead, it depended on love so that as long as there was love in the line of Li the card would continue to protect those of that line. But through time greed took over the world and love was forgotten in the race for money and power and so slowly but surely the card's light began to fade. At the death of Amethyst, a Li, the card was forced to leave earth until love was to finally return as she had been one of the few Li's left who'd known love in her heart. Finally a Li with both heart and essential goodness arose and with the love he felt for others and the love they felt for him the card was reborn and could return once again. The Li who'd brought her back had a son and a daughter and both shared their father's character and strength. The boy was destined to become great and the girl was destined to open the book of Sakura and rid the world and colonies of those who would harm it. So now I will watch and see what my future hold for I am The Eternal Love Card.

So It begins.

* * *

It was very dark out and she could barely make out her surroundings. She was here for a very important mission, but what? She struggled to look around but her eyes were glued to the top of a structure because something was up there, something that called to her and froze her in her place. And whatever it was it scared her as nothing ever had. She was not easily scared so what was it and why did she fear it so? She was not alone in her fear though. There were others behind her, silent but there. She couldn't turn around to face them but she knew they were there regardless. They were there to lend her aid, she couldn't say how she knew it but she did. There was also something standing beside her. She couldn't see it either but she knew that it was powerful and that though it meant her no harm it was by no means defenseless. Her arms reached up to her throat of their own accord to grasp something hanging from around her neck. What was it? And where were they and why?

* * *

Sakura Peace Yuy bit back a groan as she entered her home at five o'clock. She was feeling very much like she'd been hit by a truck and was followed by Solo Maxwell who was equally damaged and had no intention of giving that little detail away. They'd just got back from an hour-long boxing session and neither was happy with the results of the match. "I can't believe your dad. I had you right where I wanted you." Sakura said dropping her school bag on the kitchen table before flopping down onto her chair.

"Ha. I had you beat and you know it, Yuy. The fact that my dad kicked us out doesn't mean anything except that he prevented me from finishing the job." Solo shot back, unwilling to admit that the fight could have gone either way. They'd known each other since birth and had been fighting and competing since they could walk straight.

"Whatever you say, beach bum." Sakura resorted taking a big bite out of an apple she'd snatch from the fruit basket in the center of the table.

"Hey just because I'm in no hurry to go to college doesn't make me a beach bum." Solo said loudly getting rather annoyed with that particular nickname.

"Yea, Yea." Sakura said shaking her head which brought the package beside Solo into view. "Hey, what's that?" Sakura said motioning her apple in its direction as she attempted to relax her shoulder blades. Solo following her gaze turned and picked up the package off the counter behind him.

"It's for you." Solo informed her after reading the top cover as slowly as possible just to annoy her.

"Who's it from? Madison?" Sakura asked in surprise, rising from the chair while biting back a groan as her muscles protested.

"I don't know. It doesn't say. Secret admirer?" Solo teased, turning the package around in his hands curiously.

"Well then hand it over, Maxwell." Sakura said holding out her hand. Grinning Solo considered playing a game of keep away but the loud screams of protest coming from his bruised body told him now was not the time. His body having decided Solo threw the package to Sakura who caught it deftly in her hands.

* * *

"It's heavy." Sakura muttered, turning it and weighing it in her hands. It wasn't her birthday and she wasn't expecting anything, what could it be? Curiosity thoroughly piqued Sakura held it up to eye level and grinned.

"So what is it?" Solo wanted to know, leaning over.

"None of your business, Einstein." Sakura shot back hotly. Maybe she was in no condition to demand a boxing rematch but at least she'd have the satisfaction of denying Solo's request. Being a Maxwell meant that he was an overly curious person and he hated above all else not to having his curiosity appealed.

"Awwww come on, brat. Open it up." Solo said, giving her his best puppy dog face.

"Nice try, pretty boy but no luck. I'm going upstairs." Sakura said grabbing her bag before Solo could protest and went bounding up the stairs as fast as her bruised muscles would allow.

Sakura finally reached her room and gratefully threw her heavy pack onto the floor after collapsing onto her bed. Breathing in the familiar scents of home Sakura lay there for a few moments in thought before looking back at the package she'd set down on her bed before falling on it. Slowly she reached out and undid the flaps, pulling the paper off carefully. Inside she found a note and a square shaped item still heavily wrapped in protective layers. Curious, Sakura thought, lifting the letter out and propping herself against her wall began to read.

* * *

Dear Sakura,

You don't know me but I know you. The gift I give you now is for you and you alone. It is the key to your destiny and the future that awaits you. You should have begun the journey seven years ago but I know you will do your bloodlines proud regardless. Good luck.

"That's it?" Sakura said in disbelief after rereading the note. No name, no reason, and what the hell was that about her destiny and being seven years late for some journey. Slightly wary know Sakura once again picked up the package and began to remove the wrapping. "If this is one of your games, Maxwell I'm going to kill you and it won't be a quick and painless one either." Sakura continued to mutter to herself as she tore the wrapping of with her switchblade she always kept in her pocket for such an occasion. This was definitely something the moron would do. Tearing the last piece off Sakura stared down at her mysterious gift. "It's a book." Sakura said flatly, looking at her gift. And a kiddie book to top it all off. The cover depicted some sort of lion with the sun around it and the words Sakura Cards, her name being on the front not really matter to her. Shaking her head Sakura grabbed the book and threw it onto her bean bag chair in the corner. "Well that was a waste of energy and curiosity." Sakura muttered to herself as she bunched up the wrappings into a ball. She was almost eighteen for God sakes. Who in their right mind sends someone that old a book of fairy tales? Heck, she had never been one for fairy tales to begin with. Shaking her head at whoever had given her such a stupid gift she threw the wrappings into waste basket and then walked over to her dresser drawer where she kept her First Aid Kit. She really needed some liniment and how.

* * *

Later that evening Sakura threw her pencil down in frustration, cursing under her breath. What is going on, she wondered as she rubbed her hands over her eyes. She'd been trying to finish her math homework all night but she just couldn't concentrate. Turning her head Sakura stared at her bean bag chair. For some reason she kept getting the urge to open the stupid book which was silly. Why on earth would she want to open some stupid kid's book? Turning back to the question she'd been working on She struggled to focus. Damn, it wasn't working. Throwing her hands up in defeat Sakura levered herself out of her chair and walked over to the bean bag. Stooping down she picked up the book and stared at it wondering what was it about it that fascinated her so. Having realized with a sinking feeling that she wasn't going to get any work done if she didn't open it Sakura reached for the lock of the book. As if on cue the book began to glow with an almost eerie white light. Defense reflexes kicking in Sakura threw the book away from her and ran to her drawer where she kept her brother's old pellet gun. Normally it was used to scare the hell out of Solo when he pissed her off, but it would work for this situation too. Gun pointed forward Sakura quietly watched the book's latch fall off, sending the book sprawling on the floor. "What the hell." Sakura said edging closer. Instead of pages there were some kind of cards falling out of it. Setting the gun down Sakura slowly approached the book and its contents. Cautiously but curiously, Sakura reached out and gathered a bunch of the cards in her hands. Backing away from the book she flipped the cards face forward. "Interesting names for cards." Sakura said reading the names printed at the bottom of the cards. "Firery, Fly, and Windy."

* * *

No sooner had she said the last name then a violent wind erupted around her sending the remaining cards flying through the air and then through her roof. Then, below her, a giant circle appeared with strange symbols on it. Clutching the cards Sakura had picked up in the first place she gave her best shot at grabbing at the other cards. By the time all the cards had exited stage roof Sakura had captured three more cards and a whale of a headache. Breathing hard Sakura stared around her and then at the cards. "If Maxwell's responsible for this he's a lot smarter then I ever gave him credit for." She said leaning against her desk. "Oh no, not again." Sakura groaned, seeing the book begin to glow again. From the book came one of the weirdest looking stuffed animals she'd ever seen in her life. It looked like a half lion cub half mouse with wings. Once again picking up her gun Sakura trained it on the creature.

"Woooa what happened. Hey what the heck! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Kero looked at the girl holding the gun and back to the gun, all signs of sleepiness rapidly leaving.

"What are you and who sent you." The girl demanded to know. Carefully walking out of the book Kero kept his paws we'll up in the air.

"My name is Keroberos and I'm the guardian beast of that book. As to how I got here I have no idea. Wait a minute. Where are my cards? Oh man not again! A little uninterrupted rest, that was all I wanted. Why'd you have to open the book?" Kero yelled, leaping into the air, gun forgotten.

"Hey! Unless you want to end up dead and stuffed you'll back up and watch what you say. Now listen up, guardian. I got that stupid book in the mail and a couple of minutes ago it started glowing and then the cards in it started to glow and they went flying through my roof. So I suggest you do whatever it is you do to get them back so I can send you and your cards to Timbuktu." Sakura growled glaring harder at him.

"You mean you've lost all the cards?" Kero yelled angrily, more at himself then at her. He was getting too old for this.

"No I managed to stop six of them but the rest got away and seeing as you're their guardian wouldn't it be your job to keep them in the stupid book!"

"Hey! Look we need to get those cards back and fast."

"What? What do you mean we? They're your stupid cards so you go get them."

"Look, you opened the book so you're responsible for their escape too you know. Therefore you're obligated to help me reseal the cards."

* * *

Sakura stared at the creature then chuckled. "I don't know what you are exactly but you have two minutes to get yourself, and your book, out of my room, before I get mad." Kero stared back at the girl questioningly.

If he was in his real form she wouldn't be so confident, he muttered to himself as he glanced at the cards in her hands. "What cards did you manage to hold on to?" He said finally, hoping that she'd grabbed good ones. Seeing no harm in it she bent over to reveal the cards thinking this was really, really strange. Looking he saw she'd amazingly enough grabbed two of the four elements, a big plus along with Fly, Shield, Little and Change. Kero stared at the cards then sighed. "We'll at least you chose good cards to hang on to, kid." Staring up at her he tried his most charming smile. "You did a lot better then my last would be master any way. He let all the cards get away. Course you're smarter then he was too. And he wasn't meant to have the book in the first place."

Sakura stared at the creature. "What are card captors?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her. Plus she was talking to the weirdest looking thing she'd ever seen to top it all off.

"They're the people chosen to capture and control the cards. And you're the newest addition." Kero answered, preparing to flee if she blew up over it.

"Me? You want me to be your card captor and go around catching these cards for you?" Sakura said with surprised look. "No wonder your captors are usually kids; they're still young enough to believe all this garbage. And as for the idea of me becoming a card captor, I'm afraid I'll have to humbly decline. I have enough problems in my life without your cards adding to it."

Kero felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and peered more closely at the girl. She was very powerful and he didn't need any more trouble but who was she? She'd shown no interest in the cards magic and yet someone as powerful as her must be able to sense its power and she would surpass Sakura and Eriol if her present power levels were anything to go on. "Look, will you at least give me time to explain everything before you tur.."

"Hey, kids, need to chat with you a bit."

* * *

"Hold on a minute." Sakura interrupted, running over to the intercom beside her bed. "Yes." Sakura said pressing the button in.

"Hey sweetie, sorry to interrupt your studying or whatever but we need you and Solo to come down here for a minute and..what the Hell..Heer."

"Uncle Duo? Uncle Duo, what's going on?"

"Dad? Hey, Dad, are you okay?" Solo's voice came from his intercom, melding with Sakura's words as they both tried to call Duo back.

When no answer came Sakura jumped off her bed and raced to her banister. "Stay here. I'll be right back." Not even bothering to see whether or not he understood Sakura flew down her banister and was out her door before Kero could even answer.

"Sakura!" Sakura turned to see Solo running towards her, one of their old baseball bats in hand.

"Good idea." Sakura said quietly. Nodding an understanding they slowly approached the stair rails and leaning over Sakura gave a small cry of panic. There, lying in front of the stairs by the other intercom, was her Uncle Duo and he wasn't moving.

"Dad." Sakura turned and saw her pain mirrored on Solo's face. Despite their personal difference they were family and one of them was hurt. "I'll go first to draw whoever did this out. You cover me." Sakura said quietly, finally tearing her eyes off her uncle.

"No. I'll go down and you cover me." Solo said staring back at her.

"No. Whoever is down there will run from you. To him I'm just some weak woman and an easy target. Besides, you're a lot better at sneaking up on people then I am." Solo stared at her in surprise. Rarely did she ever compliment him and even rarer did she suggest that he was better at something then her. And she was right.

"Okay but be careful." Sakura smiled at Solo then slowly walked down the stairs. Hearing nothing nearby she motioned Solo to come down and then got down on one knee to check her uncle's pulse. Leaning over Sakura pressed her fingers to Duo's neck where she was rewarded to feel the steady beating of his heart. All of a sudden Sakura felt a strange chill run up her spine. Something was coming, but what? Gazing around Sakura had only time to catch a glimpse before a bright light zipped by her head and flew straight at Solo who'd come down the stairs to cover her.

"Solo look out!"

"What?"

* * *

Sakura stared in horror as Solo began to wobble on the stairs. Rushing to the foot of the stairs Sakura tried to brace him up as he fell forward but holding up almost two hundred pounds of dead weight male was a little too heavy for her to handle at the moment and with a crash they fell to the ground in a heap.

Sakura was barely able to contain several four-letter words from spilling out of her mouth as she struggled to get up. No such luck. "Jesus, Solo, how much do you weigh already." Sakura said from beneath him. Glancing around she saw no sign that whatever that thing was, was around so at least she didn't have to worry about that coming zooming by. Calling all her strength Sakura lifted Solo up as much as possible and tried to slip out, bad idea. "Solo, if you can hear me your head is in a really bad place and if you don't get it off my chest before my dad comes in your as good as dead." Unfortunately for her he couldn't hear her and now she was stuck even more and in a compromising situation to top it all off. I knew I should've let Solo go first, at least he'd have been able to catch me. That is if he'd have bothered too." Letting the swear words lose now Sakura wiggled around but to no avail, she was stuck and her swearing wasn't getting her anywhere. Finally giving up Sakura started yelling, hoping that whoever answered would allow her to explain her current position before they put Solo in front of the firing squad. "Mom, Dad? Anybody?" Tapping her fingers on the floor Sakura waited but no one came or answered her call. "Hello, I'm dying a slow and painful death here and if you don't hurry up aliens from another planet are going to take over the world and enslave all man kind." Sakura waited and still nothing. "Where is everybody?"

* * *

"Sleeping." Sakura turned to see Kero flying down towards her, the voice who had spoken.

"What are you doing here? I told you to stay in my room."

"I know but I sensed a Clow Card and came down to warn you. Look's like Sleep got here first though." Kero said grinning slightly. It was nice to see her at a disadvantage for once.

"What do you mean, Sleep got here first?" Sakura demanded to know, trying to ignore the fact that Solo was beginning to snore.

"The Sleep card of course. She's the one responsible for your friend here entering la la land in mid sentence." Sakura looked over at Duo and at Solo then back to Kero.

"You mean one of those stupid cards did this?"

"Yep and if you don't hurry up and catch it there's going to be a lot more people down for the count." Sakura stared at Kero not liking the look in his eye at all.

"And how do we do that exactly?" She said suspiciously.

"We'll the only way is for you to become a card captor and swear to capture it and the other cards." Kero replied, happy that Sleep had decided to join them so soon.

"You mean to tell me that unless I become a card captor my family is all going to end up like this. For how long?"

"Oh it could be forever. You see Sleep's attracted to your magic which means she'll be hanging around here for a while which would expose you and your family constantly to her magic." Kero said with a grin.

Sakura groaned. So in other words she didn't have a choice. It was either become one of his stupid captors or she was going to end up surrounded by sleeping bodies and a lot of aching muscles from trying to catch them. "Okay I'll do it. Now could you get him off of me pleaseee." Grinning in victory Kero grabbed a hold of Solo's foot and together they managed to hold him up long enough for her to slide out. Free of his weight Sakura gave a sigh of relief then turned back to Kero. "So what do I have to do?"

Kero smiled at her. "Well first I've got to give you your wand."

"My wand? Why am I not surprised I get a wand. Do I get to wear ruby red slippers too." Sakura asked sarcastically.

"Oh hush up. Now I need to know your name to cast the spell."

"Sakura."

* * *

"WHAT! Your name's Sakura!" Kero yelled starring at her in disbelief.

"Ya, you want to make something of it?"

Kero shook his head in disbelief. "What is going on here." He mumbled to himself. Yue and Clow Read have a lot of explaining to do when he saw them next. "Okay then, Sakura, Lets do it. O Key of the Seal. There is one who wishes for a contract with thee. A girl, named Sakura. O Key, grant her power! Release!"

Sakura watched in amazement as a key appeared from the book. "Well that's new." Sakura said as she watched the circle appeared around them again and as Kero chanted the key grew until in looked more like a staff then a key which was kinda cool.

"Grab it, Sakura." Kero ordered, looking over at her. Sakura stared at the hovering key then with a deep breath reached over and clasped it in her hand. Immediately the circle disappeared and everything appeared back to normal except for the wand still clutched in her hand.

"This is my wand?" Sakura asked, bringing it up to her face. It was pink with a yellow tip and a set of wings on either side. It just had to be pink, Sakura thought sourly.

"Yup that's the wand. Know listen carefully so I can explain how to use it. Then we'll go after Sleep."

Minutes later Sakura slowly looked back and forth, getting more and more frustrated by the minute. "She's hiding, Sakura. You need to use your magic to find her." Kero informed her.

"What do you mean, Kero?" Sakura demanded to know, glaring at him. She was getting sick and tired of running all over her house looking for the damn card. She saw her house every day and there was nothing new to see, not to mention having to put up with Kero's incessant whining. If it was so easy why didn't he just do it?

"You have to sense where she is. The magic inside you will react to hers, all you have to do is concentrate." Sakura looked at him then rolled her eyes. It was worth a shot. Closing her eyes she stood in the middle of the room, absolutely still. Slowly but surely she began to sense something, nothing tangible but there. Keeping her eyes closed Sakura started forward letting her instincts take over. Kero watched and grinned, maybe there was hope for her yet. Her instincts led her into her dad's study and as the Sleep card tried to fly past her she opened her eyes and shut the door. Sakura stared at the small ball of light intently. Something told her not to underestimate her small opponent and so she slowly approached it, wand raised.

* * *

"Hello, Sleep card. I've come to put you back in your book so if you have any last words I'd say them now." Sleep's answer was to fly around the room as fast she possibly could making her impossible to catch. Getting dizzy just looking at her Sakura turned to Kero. "How do I catch her when she's going around like that. It could be hours before she gets tired."

"You need to use one of your cards, Sakura. Like I told you." Sakura raised her eyebrow but took out her cards anyway.

"So which one of you could theoretically slow this thing down for me? I need to keep her in one place long enough to seal it. I know..I think." Sakura put the rest of her cards back in her pocket and then held up her chosen card. "Do I really have to say that stupid chant?" Sakura asked looking pleadingly at Kero.

"No, in this case you just have to call its name and then give it its orders." Kero said, never taking his eyes off Sleep.

"Okay then. Shield Card, release"

Sakura watched in amazement as a the card she'd held up disappeared moments after she touched her wand to it only to reappear as something that resembled the top of her wand. "Shield Card, capture the Sleep Card into your shield and don't let it escape you." Not having really believed it would work in the first place Sakura watched in surprise as the shield card shot over to the Sleep card and managed to surround her on its third try. "Cool." Sakura said watching the Sleep card bang against the shield in an attempt to break free without any success.

"Okay, Sakura. Seal it."

Nodding at Kero Sakura raised the wand above her head. "Sleep Card, return to your power confine. Sleep Card." On cue Sleep began to look like colored wind as it swirled around before forming into another card under Sakura's wand. Seconds later Sakura was the proud mistress of her first card capture. "Well that was interesting." Sakura said dryly, holding the card carefully, just in case there was a repeat of before.

"Not bad for your first time, Sakura." Kero agreed. He had to give the kid credit, she'd done well.

"So now what?" Sakura asked, looking around.

"Now we think up a good excuse for your parents and try to figure out what to do with all the sleeping people. Oh but first you need to write your name on it so that it becomes yours."

* * *

After she'd written her name in block letters on the card Sakura turned back to the next task at hand. "Well we can't just leave Solo and Uncle Duo laying there. I'll go find the others and get them to help me. I'll say Solo fell down the stairs and landed on Uncle Duo. Stay here." Sakura pushed the wand into her pocket, once again the size of a key. She quickly walked out into the hallway calling out for someone to answer her. Figuring that they were in the basement and couldn't hear her Sakura walked over to the basement door and opened it. The lights were on downstairs, which meant at least someone was down there. "Hello? Who's ever down there come quick. Solo and Duo are in need of medical help and comfort." Sakura listened but heard no response. Puzzled Sakura walked down the stairs and came to a quick halt at the bottom. "Oh not you guys too." But there they were. All fast asleep. "Now what am I suppose to do?" Shaking her head Sakura walked back up the stairs and headed for her dad's study. "They're all asleep." Sakura said walking into the room.

"That's not surprising. Sleep generally does that." Kero said cheekily.

"Funny. Now how are we supposed to explain this? If only I could put them to bed but there's no way I could carry them. If they were smaller and lighter maybe but of course they're not." Sakura said with a dark look.

"Then why don't you make them smaller and lighter?" Kero pointed out.

"What are you talking about, Kero?"

"Remember our brief lesson on your new cards I gave you. The Little Card is exactly what you need, Sakura. It shrinks things."

"So you're saying I could use the card to shrink them so I can carry them?" Sakura asked and when Kero nodded she only grinned more. "Okay then." Sakura said grabbing the key out of her pocket. Holding it carefully between her hands she began to chant. "O Key of Clow, Power of Magic, Power of Light. Surrender the Wand, The force Ignite, Release!" Instantly the key began to grow and change until it returned to its wand state. Nodding in satisfaction Sakura drew out the Little card and demanded its release as she threw it out in front of her and touched the top of her wand to it. Instantly the card turned into a childlike creature in a jester costume looking rather sleepy herself. "Little Card, shrink all the people in this house except for me. Go."

* * *

Following the card Kero and Sakura watched as Little shrink Solo and Duo then the rest of the family. Holding a Barbie size Solo in her hand Sakura just had to laugh and grin more. "And you said I'd never be taller then you." Picking up her uncle Duo and her parents as well along the way Sakura took them all up to their rooms and tucked them into bed feeling mush like a kid playing dolls. And boy had it had been a long day for all of them. Yawning Sakura was finally able to drag herself up to her room to finish her homework and eventually got to bed to sleep.

When he was sure Sakura was fast asleep Kero quickly but quietly flew from his make shift bed to the open window by her desk. Pushing it open he twisted and squeezed out the window and looking back to make sure he'd gone unnoticed closed the window behind him. "Celestial, I call you to my aid." Kero called out into the darkness.

"It's been a long time, Keroberos." She replied, smiling as Kero nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of her voice.

"Don't you know it's not polite to sneak up on people?" Kero glared at her, which only made him look cuter.

"Well I thought that a guardian beast as wise and magically strong as you would be able to sense where I was." She teased, running a finger across his head affectionately.

Shaking his head Kero sat down on the ledge and taking a deep breath turned and looked at her. "So how's Grumpy?" Kero asked, delaying the inadvertable for an only slightly less touch subject.

"Fine, of course I haven't really seen him in two and a half thousand years. Now why did you call me?" She said sitting down beside him, having a hunch.

"Her name's Sakura." Kero said staring up at her.

"I know. Amethyst suggested it."

"Amethyst? Isn't that the name of one of the Lis that you almost killed yourself trying to save?" Kero said looking puzzled.

"Yes, it is." She replied, a sadness taking over her features.

"But, didn't she die?" Kero said, thoroughly confused.

"Yes she did." Celestial replied smiling sadly at him.

"Then how?"

"No more questions, Kero, I must go if it's only answers you seek. Your questions will be answered eventually."

Kero sighed, he knew she was going to say that. "All right then. Oh and sorry about the taking Grumpy away, I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's all right, Kero, it will make him even more happy to see me when it's over. If he will see me. Besides, it must feel good to be out capturing cards again." Celestial said changing the subject.

Kero grinned. "Ya. See you later, Celestial. Or I guess that wouldn't be a really good thing huh?" Kero said grinning at her.

"You never now. Good bye for now, Keroberos."

"Good night, Celestial." Kero replied watching her jump off the roof and into the darkness.


	2. The Li Clan

Hi, welcome to the next chap. Again I own nothing but the original characters and the general plot line. In case you didn't understand the Sakura in my story is mine, she's not the Sakura Avalon from the Cardcaptor series! I hope you like and please review.

The Li Clan

Sakura opened her eyes slowly. That had to have been the weirdest dream she'd ever had in her whole life. Boy she must have unknowingly ate something Duo had made to have caused it. Imagine dreaming that the book was really magic and that inside lay cards with magical powers and a wise cracking stuffed animal with a really big mouth. Oh ya, she was going crazy all right, Sakura thought as she sat up. Only someone insane could dream that kinda mumbo jumbo up and now she was seeing things because there was no way in hell that stuffed animal was sleeping at the edge of her bed. Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand she sighed then looked again. Dang, it was still there. Wearily Sakura slipped noiselessly out of bed to hunker down beside the end of her bed. Slowly she reached out and laid a finger upon the sleeping animal. "I think I'd rather be insane then right." Sakura mumbled as she realized that it hadn't been a dream. It was all horribly true. Looking up at the ceiling as if to say "Why God?" Sakura got up and walked over to the window. Gazing out for a minute Sakura tried to comprehend what had happened. The book was magic. It had been sent to her from God only knows who and now she was stuck catching the cards she'd accidentally released. She was now the owner of a bunch of troublesome cards and a smart ass guardian who she had a feeling wasn't to pleased with the arrangement.

"Hey, Sakura." Sakura turned to see Kero standing on her bed watching her as though nothing were out of the ordinary.

"Hey yourself." Sakura said walking over to him. Sitting down Sakura studied the guardian. If she'd created the book she'd have picked someone a lot more tough looking and definitely a lot bigger. If I'd have picked the card captor I'd have chosen someone with a lot less attitude and ego Kero thought at the same time as he gazed up at his new mistress. Resigned to her fate Sakura smiled down at the newest thorn in her side and turned to look at the clock. "Oh man." Sakura said jumping up. "I'm not going to have time to go for my run now." Shaking her head Sakura lamented her loss as she went around the room picking up several items as she went. "I'm going to go have a shower. You stay here and when I get back I'll bring you some breakfast. What do you eat exactly?"

Kero grinned. "My diet consists of anything with sugar in it." He replied grinning innocently, wondering if he could get away with it. Grinning back Sakura winked before turning around to head for the door.

"Maybe you and I will get along after all seeing as that's my kind of diet too. You'll really fit in at this house" Turning around one last time to make sure he was staying put Sakura smiled and headed for the shower.

"It's goood." Kero said taking the last bite of his yummy pancakes. Happily mowing down on his breakfast Kero watched Sakura straighten her bed up. She was also trying to braid her hair at the same time. "Hey come over her and I'll do it." Kero said not realizing what he was saying as he said it. It kind of popped out.

* * *

"What?" Sakura said blowing one of her bangs out of her eye.

"Your hair, I can braid it for you. I used to braid my former mistress's daughters' hair all the time." Sakura looked at him and shrugged. It did always look much better when someone else did it. Nodding Sakura sat down on the floor beside her bed and handed the comb and elastic band to Kero. Carefully Kero parted her hair then began to braid. "So was that big lug that fell on you your brother?" Kero asked curiously.

"Solo? Oh no, my brother Brad's in University. Solo's the son of one of my god fathers, we share the house with his family." Nodding Kero began to fancy up the braid hoping it would count for desert credits.

"So how are you related to the Li Clan, Sakura?"

"The Li Clan? I've never heard of them. Is that where you're from?"

Kero looked down, startled. Could she be serious? "Well I guess you could say I'm kinda from there but I don't understand, you have to be a relation to the original Sakura."

"Why do I have to be?" Sakura asked, turning her head slightly.

Looping the band around her hair Kero frowned. "Sakura and the Brat casted a spell that said that only a descendant of hers would take over the book."

"We'll I guess it could be possible. We know nothing about my father's family tree so maybe there was a Li or two in there." Sakura suggested, her interest piqued now.

"Why don't you know anything about your father's ancestors? Is he dead? My Sakura's mother died when she was just a little kid."

"Oh no, he's alive, it's just that that he was orphaned when he was two and he's never been able to find any records of who he once was." Sakura said quietly. She knew how much her father wished he knew where he'd come from and she'd give anything to be able to tell him. Maybe this card captor thing wasn't so bad. If it would solve the lack of family tree knowledge then she was ready and willing to play ball.

* * *

An hour later Sakura walked quickly down the halls since she was going to be late meeting Leah and that was never a good thing. Putting her long legs to good use she ran as fast as possible without causing a stir as she zig zagged through the crowded hallways. School was back again and no one was particularly please, least of all her. "Thank God this is my last year." She said when she finally reached her locker. Grinning at her expression Leah opened their locker so she could stuff her stuff in.

"Sleep in, Sakura?" She teased, watching Sakura struggle to get all her textbooks in order.

"No, late night. So what's up with at the Chang residence?" Sakura asked, closing their locker with a bang.

"Nothing much." Leah answered, handing her the lock to seal it up tight. "Mom and Dad got into another argument about me helping you out and my darling younger brother nearly blew up his room with that chemistry set Ki gave him for his birthday." Sakura grinned, life was never normal at the Chang residence. They almost made her family seem normal, almost. "So are you ready for your history test, Sakura?" Leah said watching the huge crowd surge by like a bunch of cattle being led to the slaughter.

"Of course." Sakura said winking at her. "I'll ace it."

"Whatever. I'll see you at lunch?"

"Naw, I've got some stuff I have to do at home and I promised my dad I'd make him some MS cookies for his meeting tonight." Sakura said smiling back at her friend.

"Okay then catch ya later, alligator." Leah said as she prepared to join the masses in their race to get to class.

"In a while, crocodile." Sakura chimed back as she squeezed her way into the crowd.

"At the zoo, kangaroo." Leah yelled back as she too entered the crowded hallways.

* * *

Sakura felt a yawn coming on but quickly inhaled so it came out sounding more like a choking then a sign of sleeplessness. "Sakura, are you all right?" Sakura nodded at the teacher and went back to pretending to study her textbook. She probably should've been reading it but she was just too tired and had too many things on her mind besides math. Feeling the teacher's eyes on her Sakura quickly began to scribble on a piece of paper as if taking notes from the book. When she felt the Mrs. Himoki's gaze shift without criticism Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. Looking down she realized that she'd been scribbling down the names of her new cards over and over again. I should probably make a list of all the cards and there powers so I'll know what to expect when I meet them, Sakura thought. Pulling out a new piece of paper Sakura listed her seven cards and what they could do.

"Hey, Sakura. Can I borrow a pen?" Sakura quickly looked up from her writing at Lyn, her seat mate.

"Yea sure." Sakura said reaching into her school bag. Unfortunately she'd accidentally kicked it behind her and smiling an apology Sakura turned in her seat and snagged it off the ground. Pulling out her pencil case Sakura grabbed one of her pens then turned around to give it to Lyn.

"Hey, Sakura. What's this a list of?" Sakura bit her lip as she realized Lyn was holding up her list.

"Oh that's just a list of characters from a computer game." Sakura said thinking fast.

"Really, I don't recognize it? What's it called?"

"Ahh I don't know yet. A friend of mine's designing it and he hasn't decided yet." Sakura said weakly, lying on the spot never having been one of her strong points.

"Well it sounds cool. Thanks for the pen."

"No problem, Lyn." Sakura replied happy to have gotten out of that sticky situation. Seeing Mrs. Himoki walking towards her Sakura realized with a sinking feeling that round two was about to commence as she rapidly tried to come up with an excuse about why she hadn't started her work yet.

* * *

Heading home Sakura quickly adjusted the strap on her backpack then continued running across her school lawn. "God only knows what Kero's been up to." Sakura muttered as she picked up speed, sending fallen leaves flying in her wake. She didn't trust the little bugger and she was dreading what she'd find when she got home. Luckily she had the two last periods off so she could get home before everybody else, at least then she'd have time to fix most of whatever havoc he'd created. Coming to the edge of school property she looked both ways and then quickly crossed the street. At a dead run she could get to her house in a little under six minutes and with a sinking feeling predicted she'd probably need every second. Jogging now Sakura walked quickly down the lane to her house. Coming to a stop Sakura resisted the urge to throw her hands up in thanks, her house was still standing. Mumbling the prayers her mom had taught her as a child Sakura quickly walked through the walkway and up the stairs. Fishing her keys out of her pocket Sakura took a deep breath and placed the key into the lock and turned. Cautiously she opened the door to peer around the corner. "Well the front entrance looks okay. Maybe I'm over reacting." Sakura said slipping off her jacket to hang it on her peg. Placing her keys back in her pocket Sakura walked down the hallway, absolutely quiet. "Anybody home?" Sakura yelled finally deciding to take the silence as a good sign. When nobody answered Sakura breathed a sigh of relief then silently thanking her maker Sakura grabbed her backpack off the floor where she'd dropped it and calmly walked down the hallway to the stairs.

* * *

Not even wanting to think about what had happened at the bottom of the steps last night Sakura quickly hopped up the stairs and headed towards her door. Happily she punched in her code and with out a sound opened her door. No one had managed to figure out the combination yet and Sakura couldn't be happier. It was nice not having to worry about her weapons and underwear disappearing from her room and it saved her the embarrassment of getting it back. Boys, especially those born of her godfathers were far from Sakura's favorite people and Sakura loved how frustrated they got over the fact that they could no longer enter her domain without her permission. Not bothering to lock the door behind her Sakura walked up the stairs leading to her loft. It was actually half of the house's attic but she preferred to think of it as a loft and lord help anyone who contradicted her on it. "Kero, are you there?" Sakura yelled as she jumped over the last few steps.

"Hey, Sakura." Kero called out, not even bothering to look up. Kero had found her video game collection, Sakura thought with a grin as she recognized the sounds coming from her room. The little guy was sitting on the floor in front of her TV, rapidly banging on the control stick.

"Are you winning?" Sakura asked, sitting down beside him on the floor.

"You betcha. It's been a while but it's all coming back to me. Course I'd probably do a lot better with some chocolate in my system." Kero added, grinning into the screen before looking over at her with an adorable look on his face.

"I take it that's your way of saying you're ready for some lunch, Kero?" Sakura said dryly, standing up.

"Oh ya! Dang! No, nooooo." Kero yelled as his plane burst into flames and Game Over flashed across the screen.

"Don't worry, Kero, I'll teach you how to play." Sakura said grinning wickedly at him. "Care to join me for lunch?" Sakura added with a smirk in her voice.

"I don't need you to teach me anything!" Kero huffed kicking the offending controller with his foot. "Sure, lets go." Kero continued, still slightly peeved.

"Okay, lunch for two coming up." Sakura drawled, giving Kero a little bow.

* * *

Sakura felt her eyes go wide and her jaw drop. Never in her entire life had she thought she'd come across someone who could out eat her brother and Uncle Duo. Boy had she been wrong. Watching Kero stuff yet another sandwich into his mouth Sakura couldn't help but grin. "For a little guy you sure do eat a lot." Sakura said picking up her all ready empty plate.

"Being a guardian beast is really hard work you know, Sakura and besides, I haven't eaten since this morning." Kero said swallowing the rest of his first course with a big gulp. "What's for dessert?" Sakura couldn't help it, she just had to laugh at that. Kero watched curiously as his new mistress broke into uncontrollable laughter, hanging onto the table for support. She sure is crazy enough to be a Li, Kero thought as he shook his head. "And what's so funny?" Kero asked when she finally came up for air.

"You. I've lived with guys all my life but I've never seen any of them put away as much food as you do. I think I'm going to have to start coming up with some really good excuses because the way you inhale food we'll be broke in a week."

Kero glared at her, which only made her start laughing again at his expression. "Oh hush up." Kero groused grabbing for an apple out of the bowl on the table.

"Sure, Kero. Whatever you say." Sakura said drying her eyes. "I'm supposed to make some MS cookies for my dad's meeting tonight. If you help me I'll let you mow down on a few."

* * *

"So why do you call them MS cookies, Sakura?" Kero asked as he flew over to hover at her shoulder a little while later.

"Because it's shorter then saying Madison and Sakura cookies." Sakura said blowing her bangs out of her eyes.

"Did you say Madison?" Kero asked, landing on the counter which just happened to have a couple chocolate chips lying on it. "Who's Madison?" Kero added, popping one of the chips into his mouth.

"Yeah. Madison and I created the recipe for these cookies and so everyone calls them Madison and Sakura cookies aka MS cookies." Sakura replied stirring the mixture in the bowl. "And she's my best friend. She used to live down the street but she moved a couple years ago so I don't see her very often. She'd love you." Sakura said thoughtfully, walking over to the counter where she'd set the trays down.

"Really? I had a friend name Madison once too. Madison Taylor before she married the other Brat." Kero commented after wiping the chocolate from his face.

"That is so weird." Sakura said, setting down the trays.

"What do you mean?" Kero said looking up at her.

"Well my Madison's middle name is Taylor, Madison Taylor Reed."

Kero stared at her. This couldn't possibly be a coincidence . Before he hadn't been sure but now he knew. The past was repeating its self in this new time period. "I'm not sure what's going on, Sakura but something 's fishy about all this."

"What do you mean, Kero?" Sakura asked, rolling a piece of dough in her hand.

"There just too many parallels here to be a coincidence. The new mistress has the same name as my other mistress and my Sakura had a best friend named Madison, just like you do " Kero explained, shaking his head.

"So what do you think is going on?"

"I'm not sure. I guess the only thing we can do is watch and see who else shows up."

"Who else would show up if you're right?" Sakura asked nervously, setting down the dough.

"Well we've got you, Madison and possibly a Tori so that would leave the Brat, Brat 2, Julian, and Melin." Kero answered thoughtfully as he tapped his cheek, smearing chocolate there.

"And who are they?"

"Well Tori was Sakura's older brother and the Brat was a Li clan member who came to take the cards from Sakura and ended up marrying her. Julian, Madison and Melin all helped Sakura with the cards. Brat 2 was the reincarnation of my original master."

"So do you really think that history is repeating itself?" Sakura asked, not liking the idea of marrying a Li at all. If they were half as bad as Kero made them sound they didn't produce much in the ways of prime marriage material.

"I don't know, it looks that way. But don't worry, Sakura, we'll figure this out somehow."

Sakura smiled at the guardian, pain or not, he wasn't that bad. "Thanks, Kero. I'm going to put these in the oven and then change. Why don't you set up the video game and we'll play until they're done baking, okay?" Kero grinned back and agreed.

* * *

"Hey, Solo, over here." Breathing hard Solo Maxwell quickly threw the ball over to Jake Barton who jumped up and sent the ball straight into the hoop with a satisfying swish.

"Yes!" Solo high fiving Jake as they traded places to guard their opponents.

"Come on, Kyle. Let's show them who's boss." Chris Peacecraft called over, bouncing the ball.

"You're going to eat our dust, Peacecraft." Solo said moving to cover him as he tried faking him to the right.

"In your dreams, Maxwell." Kyle Chang shot back, trying to break away from Jake's cover.

"Oh yeah, Chang? Seeing as you can't even watch your little brother, what makes you think you can do any better here huh?" Jake teased, preventing Chris from getting a clean pass.

"Look, it wasn't my fault the kid tried to blow the house up. All I did was turn my back for a second." Kyle growled, angry that he couldn't out race Jake.

"A second is all it takes." Chris said faking to the left, just managing to break through Solo's cover. Lining up the shot he took it and swish, into the net with a perfect arch.

"Nice covering, Maxwell." The guys turned to see Sakura leaning against the picnic table they'd left their gear on.

"Oh hey, Sakura." Chris called out, grinning at her. He was always happy to see his cousin.

"Nice shot, Chris." Sakura replied, returning the grin.

"Hey, if you wouldn't mind, were in the middle of a game here." Solo said glaring at her.

Sticking her tongue out at him Sakura rolled her eyes. "Seems to me you'd welcome a relief from your slaughter. But if it's so important I just have to give something to Chris and Jake and then you can go back to your stupid game."

"What do you need to give us, Sakura?" Jake asked, walking over to her with Chris at his heels. Grinning Sakura handed each of them a paper bag. Raising his eyebrow Jake stuck his hand into the bag but the scent was enough to tip him off. "God I love you, Sakura. I swear you are the greatest thing since chocolate." Jake continued as he pulled a cookie out of the bag.

"Gee thanks, Sakura." Chris added stuffing a cookie into his mouth with a grin.

"Hey why do you love Sakura, Jake? Last time I checked she was still the same bad tempered hellion she's always been" Kyle asked, puzzling. How anyone could love Sakura or any girl for that matter as much as Jake sounded like he did was beyond him. Sakura was family so of course he loved her but it wasn't like he'd ever advertise the fact.

"Because she's the sweetest, kindest, most beautiful girl in the world." Jake said giving her a half hug with his free hand. Pleased at the appreciation Sakura grinned smugly at the cookieless boys.

"We'll at least somebody appreciates me." She said smiling up at Jake.

"Are those MS cookies I smell?" Kyle demanded to know, suddenly coming alert.

"Well I'll see you guys later. Bye guys." Sakura said walking away towards the school.

"She gave them MS cookies." Solo said in disbelief.

"And she didn't give us any either." Kyle said, bouncing the ball harder then needed.

"Nope, she gave them to us." Chris said holding up one of the cookies.

"Hey no fair, what about us?" Kyle said glaring at Sakura's back as she crossed the parking lot. The injustice of it all.

"Guess she just likes us better." Jake said taking a bit out of another cookie.

"You know the polite thing to do would be to offer us some of those." Kyle said with a growing glare.

"Really and what does a Chang know about manners?" Chris said slowly bringing another cookie to his mouth.

"I'll show you manners, pretty boy." Kyle said running at him. Grinning Chris and Jake took off running with the others not far behind.

* * *

Moments later Sakura stared at the fountain with a mixture of laughter and pity. "I could be wrong, Mr. Wing, but I don't think the fountain's supposed to do that."

Mr. Wing turned and shook his head. "You're damn right it's not supposed to...ahhh..excuse my language, Sakura."

"That's okay, Mr. Wing, I've heard worse." Sakura said turning back to the fountain. "It looks kinda of cool this way though." Sakura added as she watched another batch of bubbles come flying out. At the same time she felt that familiar shiver go up her spine. A Sakura Card was nearby if she was reading it correctly. Odd that I would be so sure, almost like I've done this before, Sakura thought to herself. "Why don't you go check and see if someone put bubble stuff in the water tanks. I'll stay here and make sure no one starts messing with it." Sakura added, trying to look as angelically sweet as possible.

"Thanks, Sakura, that would be a big help. I'll be right back."

"Oh don't hurry on my account." Sakura said under her breath as she watched the custodian walk out of sight. Shaking her head Sakura waited a couple seconds then released her wand. Holding the wand in one hand Sakura slowly walked around, concentrating on her newly developed card alarm system. Funny she thought, it always gets stronger when I'm near the fountain. Cocking her head Sakura walked towards it watching the bubbles fly. Then a strange thought came to her. "No way the most powerful sorcerer of his time would waste his energy to create a card that does nothing but produce bubbles. Or would he?" Sakura said, thinking out loud. Well I guess there's only one way to find out. Now what would you call a card that makes...well duh. Bubble card.

"Okay there's something seriously wrong with a guy who makes a card that's only purpose is to make bubbles. Okay key, I need you now." Saying the chant Sakura lifted her hand and grasping the magical wand turned and faced the fountain. "Windy, capture the Bubble Card into your wind, release." Sakura smiled as a yellow and white nymph appeared and began to spin around the top of the fountain. As it spun bubbles began to swirl to form a huge bubble cyclone. Well this is interesting, Sakura thought as she watched it swirl, getting rather dizzy doing it. When she was convinced the card had to be as dizzy as her she prepared to seal it. "Bubble Card, return to your power confine. Release." Sakura shook her head as a mermaid like creature appeared from the bubbles and came flying out towards her. Holding the wand securely Sakura watched the creature become another card for her collection. Grabbing the card out of the air Sakura tucked it into her pocket. Hooking the now normal sized key onto her necklace Sakura wondered how she was going to explain this to Mr. Wing.

* * *

"Sakura! Did it work?" Sakura turned to see Mr. Wing running towards her, wrench in hand.

"Well there's no more bubbles shooting out of it." Sakura said weakly.

"Sakura, look out!"

Sakura turned around and gave a gasp as she processed Mr. Wing's warning. The fountain, which had been plugged full of bubbles was now bubble free and the repressed water now came shooting out. Unfortunately the warning had come to late and Sakura was drenched to the bone along with everything near its base. Spitting out ice cold water Sakura shook her head causing water to fly from her hair. "Looks like I won't be needed a shower tonight." Sakura said dryly which was the only thing about her that was dry. Turning back towards Mr. Wing Sakura pushed away her wet bangs and smiled. "Thanks for the warning, Mr. Wing?" Sakura raised her eyebrow as Mr. Wing continued to stare at her as if he'd never seen her in his life. "Mr. Wing, are you okay?" Sakura said walking towards him.

"What? Did you say something? I..Sakura I.I..your shirt.."

Sakura was puzzled by his words, that is until she looked at her shirt. "Oh sugar." Sakura said, immediately crossing her arms in front of her wet chest. She'd just had to wear a white shirt today.

"Ahhh Sakura... I." Sakura watched Mr. Wing stutter as she gazed around for something to use to cover her chest. Spotting the boys still running after each other Sakura took a deep breath and hollered at the nearest one.

"Solo get your butt over here now...please!" Sakura felt a few choice Japanese swear words come to mind as he deliberately took a long time to get to her and the still stuttering Mr. Wing.

"Ya, ya what is it, squirt?" Solo said when he was a couple meters away. When she demanded he give her his shirt Solo felt his eyebrows hit his hairline as he took in the note of desperation in her voice. "We'll gee, Sakura I didn't know you felt that way about me but I'm afraid I'm just not interested."

"Solo Maxwell if you don't give me your shirt so help me God I'll stick you in a rocket and blast you into space to slowly die from lack of oxygen! Now give me the stupid shirt."

Solo grinned even more. God it was fun to rile her. "What do you want my shirt for any way, Sakura? And why are you all wet?" Solo added, curiosity finally getting the better of him as he took the whole picture in.

"Because I got soaked and I'm wearing a white tee shirt, you imbecile. You can see right through my shirt!"

Solo felt his eyes go to the size of saucers as he stepped closer and took in the revealing view. On conformation Mr. Wing promptly fainted which was better in his opinion than Solo reporting to Mr. Yuy that he'd been ogling his daughter's chest. "You mean..."

"Ya know give me the God damn shirt." Moving faster then he had in a long time Solo quickly wiggled out of his shirt and threw it at her. Turning her back to them Sakura quickly slipped on the shirt then turned to glare at him. "Took you long enough, you jerk."

"Hey if you'd just told me why you needed the shirt I'd have given it to you." Solo resorted, trying not to stare at her as she stood there in his too big shirt. She looked kinda cute, Solo thought as he bit the inside of his cheek to stifle the laugh.

"Well seeing as you've never had a problem taking your shirt off in public before I figured you wouldn't have a problem."

"Well jeez, don't get your shirt in a knot."

"If you weren't so empty headed you'd realize I'm wearing your shirt. Now go back to whatever it is you were doing and I'll head home and change."

"Yea well too bad you didn't change your attitude too, Sakura." Solo resorted as she walked away.

* * *

In China

His head flew back as the punch hit home. Head spinning from the shot he hadn't seen coming he doubled over in pain as he looked in disbelief at his opponent before falling to his knees and then flat on his stomach. Syaoran shook his head. Jet had said he would pose a challenge. Rolling his neck Syaoran walked over to his unconscious opponent.

"Jeez, Syaoran you're the best."

"Way to go, Li."

"Boy you really showed him huh."

Syaoran shook his head. He really needed to do something about all these groupies he seemed to be getting. They were really starting to get on his nerves. Getting down on bended knee Syaoran turned him over and sighed. "He's out for the count, Jerry." Shaking his head in disgust Syaoran climbed dejectedly out of the ring. How was a guy suppose to work off his frustration if his punching bags kept keeling over on him?

"Great match kid, great match. A little short but I was expecting that."

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "He didn't even last one round, Jerry." He said pulling off his boxing gloves.

"Ya I know, kid but since that girl almost beat you at that tournament two years ago you've been hitting them hard and fast. They just don't stand a chance." Knowing Jerry was right but not wanting to admit it Syaoran threw his gloves of his gym bag.

"Syaoran?" Syaoran turned and winced as his mother hurried over to him. "There you are, I've been looking all over for you. Your grandmother needs to speak with you right away."

Syaoran raised his eyebrow. "What about?"

"I'm not sure but I think it's something really important. She's practically locked herself in the temple and this is the first time she's so much as stuck her head out the door."

Syaoran smiled at the exasperation in his mother's voice. She never had been able to figure out her slightly eccentric mother in law and she was a constant source of confusion for her. "Just let me change and I'll head straight over." Syaoran promised, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Better add a shower to that too." She resorted with a grin. "Gotcha."

* * *

Emerald watched as her young grandson approached. He was very handsome like his father and walked with the same warrior's grace. But he was not happy and though he walked confidently there was a hint of sadness in his stride. Sad for him Emerald moved away from the window. Perhaps in his mission Syaoran would find some peace. Hearing his footsteps she walked over to the entrance to greet him. Smiling widely Emerald held out her arms to her grandson and enveloped him into a big hug. "How are you, Syaoran?"

"I'm fine, grandmother. You asked to speak with me?"

"Yes I did. Come in and sit down. It shouldn't take long." Syaoran raised an eyebrow at his grandmother's expression. Flopping down onto a chair Syaoran accepted the cup of tea then turned to face her as she sat down across from him.

"So what's up?"

"Well you know that the Clow Book is missing don't you?"

"Yes." Syaoran stared at his grandmother. Both he and Jet had had a bad feeling she was responsible for that and he was sure what he was about to hear was bad.

"As you probably already guessed I'm the one who stole the Book. Before you ask I no longer have it and therefore cannot return it. I've return it to its chosen mistress." Emerald said, biting back a smile at the look on the poor boy's face.

Syaoran stared at his grandmother. This was worse then he'd thought. "But why, Grandmother?"

"The book belongs to her. Besides, she's the only chance we have to restore the Clan to its former glory. You cannot do it alone." Emerald added in a patient and reasonable tone of voice.

"And you think this girl can do all that?" Syaoran said skeptically.

"Yes I do. But she'll need help. Your help."

"My help?" Syaoran repeated grimly. He didn't know what she had planned but it couldn't possibly be good.

"Yes, you. Here is everything you'll need."

* * *

Syaoran took the large envelope from his grandmother wearily. Reaching in he pulled out several sheets of paper, a set of airline tickets, passport and a strange looking necklace. "What's with this, grandmother? This passport isn't even mine!"

"Actually it is, dear. That is what and who you'll be when you arrive in America to join Sakura's school." Emerald replied with a chuckle.

"What do you mean, who and what I'll be? I don't look anything like this. Further more, what do you mean enroll in Sakura's school? Who the heck is Sakura?" Syaoran felt a chill roll down his spine at the smile that overtook his grandmother's face.

"Sakura is the name of the new mistress and quite possibly your second cousin." Syaoran stared at her slowly shaking his head. His grandmother had finally done it. She'd lost it. "Here's a picture of her." In a daze Syaoran took the photo from her and struggled to focus on it. "Isn't she kirei?" His grandmother said proudly like she'd had something to do with how the girl looked. She was in fact beautiful, Syaoran admitted focusing on her image. She had dark brown hair and beautiful sky blue eyes. The photo looked like a school picture and he guessed that's why she was wearing a uniform. She was staring right into the camera with an almost challenging look and there was a sparkle in her eye that said she was up to no good. Under normal circumstances Syaoran would be happy to ogle a picture of a hot looking girl but he was not exactly happy with the female species right now. And even if he was his grandmother had mentioned something about them being related though how that was possible he had no idea. "Well what do you think?"

* * *

Syaoran shook his head. "Sorry, grandmother but I'm not interested in your matchmaking schemes."

"We'll of course I'm not matchmaking, young man. I just told you I think you're related and besides, if I were matchmaking then wouldn't I want you to go as yourself?"

She had a point, Syaoran admitted looking down at the passport he'd dropped on the table. If she were matchmaking she'd want him to look his best and not like some shrimpy nerd. "But, Grandmother, why don't you send one of the other cousins?" Syaoran finally asked, trying to figure out what was going on and how to get out of it.

"I want you to help her. You're the most experienced in these matters and it's very important to all of us that she succeeds. Would you entrust this important a mission to one of your cousins? Can you say for sure that none of them might be tempted to betray her." Now that was the kicker. He had a hard enough time imagine himself being able to do this but one of his cousins? If she were truly the intended mistress of the cards then she'd need someone cool and capable by her side. Someone powerful and strong enough to take whatever the Li Clan would throw at them. Unfortunately that ruled out pretty much all of his cousins. As much as he hated to admit it but he couldn't allow the task to be passed on to another. He was the best man for the job and there was no way he could justify his decline knowing the odds. Not while he was still alive and breathing anyway.

"America, here I come."

* * *

"Aishiteru, Sakura."

" Aishiteru too, Daddy." Sakura grinned at her dad as she watched him practically inhale the cookies he'd snitched from the cookie jar. She'd just finished returning Solo's shirt and had left it in a heap on his floor. Serves the jerk right, she thought with a satisfied grin. "They won't run away if you take time to chew, Daddy." Sakura said, her grin growing wider by the minute.

"I don't see you chewing much either, squirt." Heero replied lightly tugging on her braid affectionately as he turned his attention back to eating.

"We'll that's only because I didn't want you to eat them all on me." She resorted.

"Ha, you ate twice as many as I did."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

* * *

"Children, children please. I could hear you from the driveway." Relena called from the doorway as she walked in with a tired but happy look on her face when she saw two of her favorite people.

"Hi, Kirei (beautiful). How was your day?" Heero said pulling her into his lap when she got close enough to grab. Winding her arms around her husband's neck Relena grinned.

"Not bad. How did your test go, Sakura?"

"Pretty good, mom. Did you manage to talk Methero into seeing things your way?"

"I'm working on it. Are those MS cookies I'm smelling?"

"Yup and I hid some for you so that there'd be some left when you got home." Bouncing out of her chair Sakura walked over to a cupboard and standing on tippy toes pulled a tin out and turning around Sakura rolled her eyes at the sight that greeted her. Dad was obviously a good kisser, Sakura thought with a smile. "Well Dad that's one way to try and convince Mom to share her cookies." Tapping her foot while she waited for her parents to come up for air, Sakura mentally counted the minutes going by as they ignored her completely.

"How many minutes?" Duo said walking into the kitchen to a familiar sight. Sometimes he had a feeling that Relena had the philosophy that she could improve Heero's attitude one kiss at a time. Who was he to argue?

"Twenty-three seconds and counting." Sakura said shaking her head.

"You two really know how to kill a moment, don't you?" Relena said from Heero's lap as the two glared at their interruption. Sakura grinned at her dad's still slightly stunned expression and barely resisted commenting.

"Sorry." Sakura said hopping back into her chair.

"That reminds me, what was in the package that was delivered for you yesterday?" Relena said as she helped herself to a cookie. Sakura blinked, dang her mother knew about the package.

Thinking quick Sakura smiled. "It was just an old present that got lost in the mail I think."

"Really, what was it?" Duo asked taking a seat as well. Trapped Sakura quickly thought of a believable excuse.

"Oh just a book and some cards. No big deal."

"Someone sent you a book for a present? They obviously don't know you very well. What kind of book." Heero said raising an eyebrow. His girl had never been much of a reader and unless the book was about something other then cards he couldn't see the appeal.

"Oh an old musty one, the cards go with it. I think the idea is to collect all the cards. I only have 7 out of the 54 cards. I think I'm supposed to try and find the others. Kiddie stuff." Sakura watched her family watch her, waiting for one of them to call her on her lie. "Off topic how'd you guys sleep last night? I slept like a log."

* * *

Later Sakura flopped down onto her chair. Heaving a sigh she flipped on her computer and went straight for her mail. Scrolling down Sakura made a mental note to set up some more extreme junk mail alarms. "What's this?" Sakura peered at the name before her. She never gave her personal e-mail out to anyone she didn't know and yet this return address wasn't familiar to her. Clicking on it Sakura called up the e-mail and quickly scanned it then frowning read it again. "Kero, come here." Kero quickly flew over from the beanbag chair to land beside her shoulder.

"What is it, Sakura?"

"Listen to this."

"Dear Sakura,

I'm writing to you because you possess the cards and having already released Keroberos you already know of the Li Clan. I am a member of the Clan but you have nothing to fear from me though I cannot say the same for the rest of my clan. There are several Lis who intend to take the cards from you and I cannot allow this as the cards are rightfully yours and I intend to see them remain with you. To do this you will need help and that is where I come in. I will be arriving at Kimoni Airport in two days at approximately two p.m., it would be a good idea if we were to meet there first. I mean you no harm and hope you will be there. I've already looked you up so just wait in front and I'll come to you. Till then, good luck with your captures."

"Well what do you think, Kero?" Sakura said pushing her chair so that she was facing him.

"I don't know. Not all the Clan could possibly be bad but this could be a trick." Kero answered with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I don't know, Kero. The airport would be a really busy place so its not like he could do much and I don't know, call it a gut feeling but I think he means what he says. I say we meet him but we don't leave with him alone until were sure of his intentions, and we should just bring the cards and not the book, that way we'll have a bargaining chip if something goes wrong."

"Good idea, Sakura. Meanwhile we'll catch as many cards as possible to even up the odds."

* * *

2 Days Later

"Hey ya, squirt, where do you think you're going in such a hurry?"

Sakura felt her blood begin to boil. Of all the times for Solo to notice her leaving the house and asking where she was going it had to be today. "None of your business." She resorted making for the door.

"Hold it, young lady. Where are you going?" Oh you're going to pay for this Solo, Sakura thought as she turned around to answer her father.

"Oh just out, Daddy. I 'll be back in time for supper." Heero raised his eyebrow at the Daddy, something was up.

"Exactly where is out, Sakura?" Solo asked, sensing she didn't want them to know and however big a pain she was he still had to look out for her and didn't want to see her get hurt.

"None of your business, grease monkey. So can I go, Dad? I'm going to be late but like I said I'll be home for supper."

"Late for what?" Heero asked crossing his arms against his chest. Arm crossing, bad sign.

"I'm meeting a friend at the airport. I offered to give her a ride. That's all."

Heero looked at his daughter who stared back at him. Knowing from experience that the best thing to do was to meet his gaze Sakura waited and hoped he'd believe her. "Okay but be back in time for supper okay." He finally said. Promising Sakura smiled at him. Success. Waving at Solo in glee she quickly picked up her bag off the couch and ran out of the house before he could change his mind.

"You're a pretty good liar, Sakura." Kero said, sticking his head out of the bag.

"I didn't lie, he could be a girl."

"Yea right." Kero said as they entered the garage. Pulling her keys out of her pocket Sakura quickly unlocked the convertible's door and slide in, setting her bag and Kero down carefully since he was just a little guy. "Nice car. Now lets head to the airport."


	3. The Family Tree

Note to readers: Once again I own nothing but the story and a handful of the characters. To clear something up this will not be a copy of the original Cardcaptor series in terms of character's personalities or pair ups. These Sakura and Syaoran are cousins in this fic and therefore cannot be paired up because it would be morally wrong in my mind. Though they both might find romance it will not be with each other guaranteed . Enjoy reading and hope you'll review.

He's Arrived

"So do you think I'm making a mistake coming here?" Sakura said under her breath as she leaned up against the wall as she waited for the flight to come in. She'd placed Kero in her top pocket in her leather jacket and was feeling a little foolish but she had enough confidence to just dare at anyone to comment.

"We'll see, Sakura." Kero said moving as little as possible in order to continue to pass for a stuffed animal. She hadn't even wanted to bring him and he was doing his best to convince her she hadn't been wrong.

"But you said they were all psychos." Sakura said as she tucked her hands into her pockets.

"Only the majority, there's an exception to every rule. Whoever this guy is he let you know that he was coming, that makes me more inclined to believe we should hear him out. Most Lis would have just demanded the book and cards, the fact that he's showing this respect makes him unusual to begin with." Kero said with a smirk.

"Well I guess that's something." Sakura looked up as the boy's flight was called moving from her position she walked until she was a few meters away and in plain view. The fact that he'd said he would know her to see her was slightly unnerving but she was determined to see this through. Besides what could this Li guy dish out anyway that she couldn't handle. As she watched the people stream out her eyes took in everything that was going on around her without missing a thing. Her blue eyes took in the frantic and dissolved mothers, the airsick passengers and the exhausted flight attendants. But she had no idea who she was looking for. Hands digging further into her pockets she watched and waited, but no one approached her from the flight. Oh where oh where is the stupid Li, oh where oh where could he be.

)

"Hello, Sakura." A voice from behind said and Sakura automatically put on a bored expression as she turned on her heels to look over the latest player in this weird game she'd entered.

"Well I've got to say you're not what I'd expected." Sakura said staring at him while making a serious attempt not to laugh out loud. If this was an example of what the Lis had to offer in the way of tough guy then the Clan was going under real fast. The kid was her height and looked about as harmless as a five year old. He was the stereotypical nerd in fact, complete with huge glasses, a bad taste in clothes and the build of a bean stock.

"Neither are you, Sakura." Syaoran admitted with a half grin as he looked at his new partner. She was quite beautiful, and smart too. He'd bet anything that she'd come armed and prepared for anything, the way she'd surveyed the room proved it. That and it took a hell of a lot of guts for a teenager to walk into a public place with a stuffed animal in her breast pocket.

"How was your flight?" Sakura asked causally as her eyes continued to scan for any possible back up he might have. Though she knew that looks could be deceiving there could be no possible way that this guy posed a threat to her.

"Not bad. The name will be Jet by the way." Syaoran said with a charming smile that made him look even more funny. A rogue's smile on a nerd's face, interesting.

"I take that to mean that Jet isn't your real name." Sakura said turning her attention back to him, her senses still on red alert. "Mind if I ask why?"

"Because it wouldn't do for anyone in the Clan to know I'm here to help you. Jet seemed like as good a name as another." Syaoran said also looking around just in case.

)

"What's your real name and why are you here to help me? Especially if it would upset your Clan to do so?" Sakura said with a raised eyebrow, weary of a trap. "Seems to me you'd be more likely to want the cards for yourself as oppose to helping me capture them."

"Why don't we continue this conversation somewhere where Keroberos will be able to speak as well. Your choice of place seeing as you know this area better then I do." Syaoran said, neatly sidestepping the question for now.

"Are you hungry?" Sakura asked with a wicked grin that caused Syaoran to answer her with a nearly identical one. And not taking in to account that she was very beautiful and he looked like a major geek people might have assumed that they were related.

"Always."

)

"My God, where does he put it all?" Syaoran said watching in stunned amazement as the legendary guardian Keroberos completely and totally destroyed a mountain of ice-cream and chocolate syrup without even stopping for air. "He's like a bulldozer destroying everything in his way." Sakura had decided to head for O'Brother, an ice cream place nearby that was right beside the park. So here they were sitting in a deserted area of the park watching Kero demolish a second sundae while they were still working on their firsts.

"I've given up trying to figure it out. He could probably eat out an entire grocery store and not gain a pound. The injustice of it all." Sakura said rolling her eyes as she finished licking off some whipped cream. "So now that you've got something to eat and were more isolated want to tell me about yourself and what's going on exactly?"

"Well lets start at the basics and work our way up." Syaoran said as he scrapped some ice cream off the side of his dish. "Did Kero give you a general idea of what the Li Clan is? I would assume that your god father Chang Wufei would have mentioned us as well."

"I know about the past Sakura and I've heard a lot of bad things about you from several different people." Sakura said with a smirk before opening her mouth to stuff some more ice cream in. She'd researched the clan after all. "So are you all maniacs who are power hungry bastards interested only in themselves?"

)

"Unfortunately that's not far off." Syaoran said with a shake of his head. "We were once a great clan though. We were respected and held in high regard by many, even those who didn't believe in our power. But it's not like that anymore. Things went downhill a hundred years ago when the direct line of Syaoran and Sakura split in two. You see the Li Clan doesn't believe in marrying outside the Clan, it taints the purity and power of our blood people say which is bull but well..yeah. Well the man who was in line for the leadership of the Clan fell for a woman who was not part of the Clan and because of extreme pressure he stepped down and allowed his brother to rule instead so that he could marry the girl. He did and from that day on the right to rule has alternated between the two lines, brother's against brother's. My great grandfather was the last Clan leader before our current one. He suffered a stroke early on in his rule and so it was decided that the eldest Li in the other line, Meoki should take over but there were those who thought my great grandfather's slightly younger son should take over. To solve the problem Meoki proposed that he marry my great grandfather's oldest daughter but Amethyst refused to marry him and ran off with a young man who'd she'd met and fallen in love with. Meoki eventually took over but a lot of people were against it believing that Meoki wasn't worthy of leading after he tried to force the Sakura Book open when he was younger in the hopes of using the cards to seal his leadership role. He managed to force it open using magic but a magical force forced the cards back into the book and sealed it shut once again so that it couldn't be opened. The book disappeared soon after that and the people's opinion of Meoki proved true. He's a tyrant, Sakura. A monster interested only in himself and power. He's why you didn't get the book when you were suppose to."

)

"What do you mean when I was suppose to?" Sakura asked curiously as she leaned forward, caught up in the tale. "Sorry for interrupting."

"That's okay." Syaoran said with a nod of understanding. "You were suppose to get the book when you were younger, around ten or so. Old enough to handle the cards and the danger involved but still young enough to believe in the magic and what was happening around you. Children are also more willing to get the cards for the right reason while people older would be more likely to try and use the cards for their own ends. Your father had the Sakura Book, Sakura, but it was taken from your home before you could find it and open it."

"So in other words if someone hadn't interfered I would have been involved in this when I was ten?" Sakura said in surprise. "Well it would have been something for show and tell anyway." She added with a laugh.

"That you would have." Syaoran agreed with a smile. "And we would have met up a lot sooner. Small blessings I guess."

)

"So I have another question before you continue. Kero says that only a direct descendant should have been able to open the book and so I'm wondering if you know how we're related exactly?" Sakura asked hopefully. "Kero says that my father has the look of a Li and he was an orphan so we don't know really anything about his past."

"My grandmother thinks that you're Amethyst's granddaughter on your father's side." Syaoran said as he swatted at Kero's spoon which had been slowly inching towards his ice cream. "We don't have any rock solid proof yet but that's what she think."

"You mean the daughter that was suppose to marry Meoki but ended up leaving him for the other guy? I think I would have liked my grandmother." Sakura said with a smile. "She obviously knew a rat when she saw one and had the guts to stand up to her family."

"Well according to my grandmother you two are a lot alike. She was apparently quite the fighter, Sakura. She was a skilled martial artist as well as strong magically, it must have taken unbelievable courage to disobey her entire family in order to marry the other guy. Apparently our great grandfather tried everything you can think of to break her to his will but she held firm and managed to escape. It was a shame too, she was highly respected among the Clan for both her brains and beauty, she would have been a positive force in the Clan but Meoki would have had her killed or broken if she'd stayed, he didn't handle her rejection well apparently."

)

"So do you know anything about my grandfather, was he the one she ran away with?" Sakura asked, eager for any news that he might have about her father's family.

"Yes he was. He was supposedly very good person and well off as the story goes. I think they met at a nearby stables where he was working for the summer to help out a friend." Syaoran said trying to remember everything he'd heard about the couple. Meoki didn't look kindly on people who reminded him of his humiliation and so Amethyst and her husband weren't mentioned much. "They got married though and had two children, Grandma think your father was their youngest son. It's the only possibility we have right now that makes any sense."

"My dad has a sibling or siblings? Boys or a girls? How old, younger or older then him?" Sakura asked, she might have more aunts and or uncles.

"Had. Li Logan had an older brother who was killed along with their parents but Li's body was the only one not found in the wreckage. Officials thought that his remains must have been destroyed in the explosion but my grandmother thinks that he survived and that that's where your dad comes in."

"My dad's name could have been Li? His name was Logan?"

"No his name was Li, Logan was the family's last name. But don't get your hopes up okay? This is simply theory." Syaoran warned looking at her closely. "Don't hold me to this."

"I understand. Please continue." Sakura said with a pleading smile.

"Apparently even after her father and Meoki banished her Amethyst still tried to reconcile with her family. She named her youngest Li in the hope that her father would at least soften towards his then only grandchildren. It didn't work out though and he refused to even see the children, my grandmother only saw them a couple of times."

)

"What a moron. He should have been happy that his daughter was happy. No matter how mad my dad gets at me sometimes he'd never throw me out of the house or force me to marry a guy that makes the Duke seem like a nice guy. I've got to say your Clan is sounding worse by the minute." Sakura said with a shake of her head which sent her messy ponytail bouncing. "I wouldn't last more then a minute there."

"Great grandfather isn't an easy man to live with." Syaoran agreed with a sigh. "He's confined to a wheelchair now but he still acts as though he's in control and pity the person who tries to tell him otherwise." Syaoran said with a mock shudder. "He may be old but his tongue's as sharp as ever."

"So the old wind bags still alive?" Sakura said thoughtfully. If he turned out to be her great grandfather too she had a few things to say to him. "Hey wait a minute." Sakura said suddenly as a thought occurred to her. "If he's your great grandfather and mine then we could be cousins right?"

"Second cousins actually. I guess I could do worse." Syaoran said with a playful grin as she pretended to punch his shoulder.

"Well then, cous. Don't you think I should at least know your real name? I promise I won't slip up and give you away." Sakura said playfully crossing her heart and her eyes at the same time looking hilarious doing it.

"Li Syaoran at your service." Syaoran said with a mock half bow.

)

"DAMN." Kero said completely forgetting about his plans to steal some of the kid's ice cream in the surprise. "It figures. Well now we have Brat Number One on board."

"What do you mean, Brat Number One?" Syaoran asked having a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer. "I take it you were referring to me?"

"How do feel about second cousins marrying, Sakura?" Kero asked, ignoring Syaoran's question for the time being.

"What on earth are you talking about, Kero?" Sakura said looking at the guardian like he'd grown another head. "I think you've got major brain freeze pal."

"Just what do you think?" Kero said looking as though the world safety hinged on her answer to the question.

"Well I never really thought about it, especially since I didn't know I had any second cousins to begin with. But if your asking me if I intend to marry Syaoran then the answer is no." Sakura said with a laugh. "No offense." She added for her cousin's benefit.

"Not that you asked but the same goes for me. We have enough problems in the Clan without adding an increase in inbreeding." Syaoran said with a smirk. "No offense either, Sakura."

"None taken." Sakura said with an answering smile. "So what's with the question, Kero?"

"His name is Syaoran, yours is Sakura. My last mistress had the same name as you and she married a guy from the Li Clan who's name was..you guessed it Li Syaoran." Kero said making a face. "She could have done so much better."

)

"So we have another piece of the puzzle in the game." Sakura said catching on. "And like I said before, Kero quit worrying about that. You've told me all about your Sakura and we're nothing alike just as her Madison and my Madison aren't the same either."

"Did I miss something?" Syaoran said curiously. "Puzzle pieces?"

"A lot of the names that were involved with his last mistress are turning up here. His mistress's name was Sakura, me. His former mistress's best friend's name was Madison, so is my best friend." Sakura said in a deliberately spooky voice. "And now we have you."

"And Melin." Syaoran added absentmindedly.

"What do you mean and Melin. She came with you?" Kero said looking around him frantically.

"No she's already here. Chang Leah is a friend of yours right?

"Yea she is and she's my god sister too but what's that got to do with Melin, Leah is Leah." Sakura said with a raised eyebrow, not getting where he was going with this. "What am I missing and how do you know Leah?"

"I know Leah from a long time ago and as for the Melin part isn't that Leah's middle name? Leah Melin Chang?" Syaoran pointed out with a smile as she gapped at him.

"You're right." Sakura said shaking her head. "It is but it never even occurred to me. Wow."

"What is going on here?" Kero said thoughtfully as he stared up at them. "It's like time is repeating itself and yet isn't. Got any ideas, kids?"

)

"So in other words your grandmother sent you half way around the globe to help me catch these cards and wants nothing in return." Sakura said as they packed up their garbage to leave minutes later. "Boy that's nice of her."

"Yup." Syaoran said with a nod as he took a shot from down town and sent his empty soda can into the recycle with a thud. "It will be good training too."

"Well then I guess I'll agree to take you on as a partner but if you double cross me I'll make the rest of your life a living Hell." Sakura said cheerfully as she closed the garbage can.

"Sounds fair to me." Syaoran said with a smile. "And to show that I intend to keep my word here's a token of my esteem." He said as he pulled a card from his jacket and held it out to her. Surprised Sakura accepted the card and turned it over. "Don't say its name though, you haven't signed it yet."

"The Erase Card." Sakura said reading the name after she had signed it to seal the card away for the time being. "You're just giving this to me?"

)

"Well like I said I have no interest in being the next cardcaptor and anyone who has even a card is eligible to become one. Therefore I give the card to you." Syaoran explained with a smile. "I met up with this particular card while we were a couple of minutes from landing at the airport. When passengers and pieces of the plane began to vanish I had a pretty good idea that a card was responsible."

"It tried to erase the plane? While you were in it?"

"Yup. Luckily I came prepared and was able to capture it in time."

"But why didn't anyone say anything. Shouldn't there have been a huge uproar with people crying and screaming in terror?" Sakura asked, confused.

"Because the Erase card doesn't leave memories behind." Kero said from her pocket. "It would have erased them."

"Oh. Well this card will certainly come in handy." Sakura said with an evil look. "A card that can erase people's memories. Whatever would a seventeen year old girl do with a card like that?"


	4. Surprises Around Every Corner

Note: As always I don't own anything and I hope that you enjoy and review this latest chapter cause I live for reviews. Kidding but I would appreciate them.

Surprises Around Every Corner

Syaoran had to smile as they drove towards Sakura's house, enjoying the fall scenery. It was kinda nice to look like a nerd he decided, as he sat back in the seat with a happy sigh of contentment. No girls had hit on him on the plane and no one had played the damsel in distress to try and get his attention. Not that he was vain or anything but girls did tend to flock around him and it was a nice change to be ignored.

"You don't look like a Li." Kero said from between them where he was happily licking away at a lollipop.

"This isn't how I normally look, I changed my physical appearance so that I wouldn't be recognized when they send other members of my clan to steal the cards back from Sakura. If they recognized me, it would cause problems for my family." Syaoran explained looking around him carefully, cautiously even as he admitted there was no chance he wouldn't sense other members coming.

"Would the Clan hurt them?" Sakura wanted to know, looking over at him with concern. Technically his family was her family and she didn't want anything to happen to them, she had little blood family as it was.

"Doubtful, my twin brother and several of my other male family are deeply involved in Meoki's work, he wouldn't want to lose their support by punishing them for something I've done." Syaoran reassured, pretty sure anyway. "I'm also a big part of the Clan's reputation so it wouldn't be wise to attack me or mine without a very, very good reason."

)

"Why are you a big part of your Clan's reputation, Jet?" Sakura asked, trying out the other name since it was pointless to get use to thinking of him as Syaoran, too dangerous.

"Like I said before I'm here in disguise, I don't normally look like this and I'm actually quite skilled in sports and martial arts. I'm rather famous in China for my martial arts and sword skills, my wins are the Clan's wins, harm me and they lose that prestige." Syaoran said with a hint of bitterness he made no move to hide. "I'm an example of how great the Li line still is."

"You're the one that faced Leah in that championship match that went on for several hours and eventually had to be called a tie a while back." Sakura snapped her fingers, looking over at him as the piece fit in as to why the name had seemed so familiar. "That's why you knew Leah's middle name and my connection to the Chang Clan. You don't look like your pictures at all." She'd seen what Leah's opponent had looked like and he definitely hadn't looked like a nerd. In fact, he'd been a definite hottie.

"Right on your first try. That's another reason why a disguise was a good thing, I think Leah still sore about that match." Syaoran said with a knowing grin. Leah had definitely not struck him as the type to take a loss well. Probably was still holding a grudge, Syaoran thought and had to admit he was looking forward to seeing her again, even if she did hate his guts and had told him to go to hell repeatedly.

"You have no idea." Sakura said with a grin as she stopped at a set of lights. "You wouldn't believe how angry she was when you missed the league championships in China this year, she was really looking forward to rearranging your face, not to mention kicking your ass to the other side of the galaxy."

"She could have tried." Syaoran said as he thought of all the training he'd done after Leah had almost beaten him. It had been hell on the ego to have nearly been beaten, by a girl no less and he had improved a great deal. He would have preferred to have won and improved but he had a feeling it was the loss that had done it. He definitely looked forward to facing her again.

)

"So you've gone from stud to spud. Or I guess in your case a beanpole would be more appropriate." Sakura said wickedly as they approached her street, relieved that the streetlights weren't on yet which indicated that she wasn't late for dinner yet.

"Funny. You can just drop me off at your house, my new apartment's just down the block apparently." Syaoran said as they pulled into her street.

"Is that so, how convenient." Sakura said as she smiled at him. Seconds later they were pulling into her driveway. Looking around she was glad to see that none of the guys were waiting to pounce on her or worse on Syaoran. They tended to do that when they saw her alone with a guy that they didn't know. "I'll give you a hand with your stuff, wouldn't want you to pull anything trying to get it there."

"I traveled fairly light, less suspicious." Syaoran said, motioning to the two suitcases they put in the back.

"Hey, Sakura. I thought you were picking up a girl?" Solo called out smugly and Sakura was annoyed to see him, her brother, and several other god brothers coming out of the house to congregate on the front porch. "Change of plans?" Solo asked innocently as he tried to size up Sakura's guy who was slightly behind her so he couldn't get a good look.

"I already dropped her off." Sakura answered sticking her tongue out at him, which was childish but since Solo Maxwell had the mind of a child she might as well use an insult his small brain could understand. "I simply ran into Jet at the airport and offered to save him the taxi money."

"Leave them alone, Solo." Brad, her brother said with a roll of his eyes as he tried not to smirk at the two. "Sometime you get downright territorial, one would almost think you liked the squirt." He added to Solo, amused when his friend's face went a particularly interesting shade of red that didn't suit him at all.

"Hell no." Solo said looking like he'd just been told he was going to die, which he'd have preferred to getting involved with Sakura Yuy. Hell looked better in comparison to being stuck with her. "I'd rather blow my brains out."

"You have no brains to blow out, Maxwell." Sakura said saucily. "I'm just going to help Jet get this stuff to his new apartment and then I'll be straight back." She told her brother, pointedly ignoring the rest of the males crowded on her porch.

)

" I don't think we've met." Brad said walking down the steps with the rest close on his heels as he did his big brother routine though he knew it really wasn't necessary, his sister wasn't the type to judge someone wrong or get into a situation she couldn't get out of. "I'm Brad Yuy by the way, Sakura's older brother." He said holding out his hand and stepping from behind Sakura Syaoran took the offered hand and shook it with a surprisingly firm grip despite his weak appearance.

"I'm Jet." Syaoran said with a welcoming smile that made him look even more goofy then he had before. Unaware that he'd just been judged and found too pathetic to worry about Syaoran tried not to stare at Brad who looked quite a bit like what he did normally. He was definitely of Li heritage or he'd eat his sword.

"Nice to meet you. So how do you know Sakura?" Brad asked leaning against Sakura's car while smiling at Jet nicely. He was, after all, Relena Peacecraft Yuy's son and diplomacy was bred into his bones.

"We met a long time ago when I was in China with Mom for some conference. There was a party afterwards and we young people have to stick together." Sakura said quickly as she smiled sweetly. "To answer your next question he's moving into an apartment down the block."

"How long are you staying?" Solo asked, not really sure why but he had a really bad feeling about this. He'd seen toddlers that could probably do more damage then this kid but there was just something about him that sent him on edge. It was because of his eyes, Solo realized as the three chatted away about China and the neighborhood. The body was a nerd's but the eyes were a warrior's. Ever so often he looked around, scanning the area around them in a way that only the trained observer would notice and question. Now why would you be doing that buddy, Solo asked him silently. "So kid..."

"Sakura!"

"Madison!" Sakura cried as she recognized the slim girl running towards her at a neck breaking speed. Running to meet her the two catapulted into each other and were hugging and talking a mile a minute before anyone could make a sound.

)

"The Terrible Two are together in one place." Jake, one of Trowa's sons said with a groan as he watched the two go through their bizarre ritual of catching up. With her completely black wardrobe Madison practically blended in with the night as the two talked rapidly to the other, each some how understanding what the other was saying.

"So that's Madison Reed." Syaoran said under his breath as his senses came to alert. She was extremely powerful, Syaoran realized as his eyes widened slightly at the amount of magic she appeared to possess. She'd be a powerful ally if she knew how to use her gifts. And she was really beautiful, he noticed as the two came closer to the light. Her hair was cut short like a boys but her shape was a woman's.

"Brad, Solo, Jake, Ki! The rest of you!" Madison called out as she broke away to give huge hugs and quick kisses to all the guys before coming to a stop in front of Syaoran, her senses reeling as she sensed the power radiating from him. Was he here for the Sakura Cards as well? "I don't think we've met, I'm Madison Reed." Madison said looking at him closely as she sized him up while the guys she'd just hugged and kissed did their routine curses and disgusted looks at her show of affection. Which of course was why she'd done it to them in the first place.

"Fau, Jet." Syaoran said bowing low. "It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Reed, Sakura's told me much about you."

"Madison." Madison said with a smile as she decided to give the kid the benefit of the doubt, for the time being. "So are you surprised?" she added turning back to her friend who'd been watching with interest. She'd question Sakura about him later, then she'd seek out the new card captor as was her destiny.

"You bet." Sakura said picking up on the electricity between the two. Not attraction but almost a connection, Sakura thought to herself as she walked over to sling an arm around her friend. "How long are you staying for?"

)

"The rest of the school year." Madison said with an evil grin as her friend stared at her with her mouth open before she gave out a delighted yell and went back to giving her a big hug while the guys who knew Madison inwardly groaned at the thought of having her living nearby again. Not that they didn't like Madison exactly but putting her together with Sakura was like putting a lit match and a gas tank together, people were hurt and traumatized for life. The cynical feminist and Heero Yuy's daughter. Talk about your bad combinations. Once they came up for air Madison explained. "You see my dad got a job offer to come move back here in a couple of months and anyway your mom was talking to my mom about it and Aunt Relena said I could come here and stay at your house so that I won't have to catch up in school so much! It's going to be so awesome."

"She's living with us too." Solo said with a mock look of horror on his face.

"Yeah, Brad's even offered to let me have his room since he's away at university." Madison said sending Brad an adoring look. He'd always been like her big brother too and she adored him as any little sister would. "I really appreciate it by the way, Brad."

"No biggie." Brad said with a shrug and when Sakura demanded to know why she hadn't been let in on this little surprise Brad grinned widely. "Well mom thought it would be a great surprise. And Sakura..since when do you play with stuffed animals?" Brad asked as he lifted Kero from the bag Sakura was holding. "What a weird looking stuffed animal."

"Keroberos!" Madison said in shock then feeling equally surprised vibes coming from Sakura and Jet Madison quickly caught herself. So the new owner of the Sakura Cards was Sakura. Oh the irony, Madison thought with a small grin. Then realizing Brad was looking at her questioningly Madison quickly explained. "That's its name..Keroberos."

"Ah yeah..it's an old toy I had stashed in my car from my baby-sitting years and forgot about." Sakura said thinking fast. "I found it there and stuffed it in the bag to bring it in." How did Madison know about Kero? Was she really connected to all this like Kero had said? Was she some sort of reincarnation of the old Madison Kero had once known? "Anyway, can I have it back please? It's old and fragile, I don't want it wrecked."

"Sure." Brad said handing the thing back, puzzling over the fact that the stuffed animal had felt warm, like a living, breathing creature. "Well we all better get inside for supper. Do you want some help getting your stuff to your new apartment, Jet?"

"No that's fine." Jet said shaking his head before sending Sakura a something's up and I'll be in touch look. "Bye you guys."

Both girls hurrying through their dinner they quickly trooped up to Sakura's room and after locking the door behind her Sakura raced up her steps to find Madison waiting for her with Kero, the two staring intently at each other. "How do you know Kero?" Sakura demanded to know as she sat down on her bed with Kero between them.

"Well I have to say when I was sent here to help the new card captor I never thought it would be you, Sakura." Madison said with a smile as she looked from the suspicious guardian beast to Sakura. "I know Kero because I've grown up hearing stories about him and the Sakura cards, the original Sakura and Madison. You see the Read family has long been connected to the Li Clan and we're actually related since Kero's Madison had a daughter who married Sakura's son. I'm the descendant of Eriol Reed, the reincarnation of Clow Reed who created the cards in the first place. My ancestor Madison helped Sakura collect the Clow Cards and Eriol was put in charge of helping her transform the Clow Cards into her own Sakura Cards." Seeing Kero look at her threateningly Madison put her hands up in defense. "But I'm not here to put her through the things Eriol did, Kero. I'm just here to work on my magic and help her collect all the cards. By the way, who was that Jet person? I sensed powerful magic in him."

"His name really isn't Jet, he's a Li too sent here to help me collect the cards since other members of his clan are likely going to come and try to steal them from me." Sakura said with a rather dazed look on her face, too much to take in all at once. She couldn't believe there were all these things about her best friend she didn't know.

"That I can understand, the original Sakura and Syaoran would turn in their graves if they could see what has become of the Clan." Madison said with a sigh of regret at what had been lost over the centuries. "So how many cards have you caught?" Madison added with a curious look that turned to delight when Sakura got out the cards to show her.

Two days later. "This is so weird." Sakura said as she walked side by side with Madison, the two looking around them for any sign of the card they had both sensed. They couldn't see anything out of the ordinary and Sakura wished Kero was there instead of back at her house likely playing one of her video games. "I know it's here but I don't know what I'm looking for."

"Well there's a lot of different cards to chose from, Sakura." Madison said with a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "But you already have nine, they'll come in handy once the card show's himself and I'm no push over either." Madison added with a wink as she took Sakura's hand and squeezed it. "You already have two element cards, Sakura and they're the hardest cards to capture."

"Yeah but I didn't capture Windy and Firery, at least not in the battling sense." Sakura pointed out with a sigh then pushed to be more optimistic. "But whatever it is, I'm sure we can handle it, Madison."

"Hey look over there, Sakura." Madison said suddenly as she pointed to a spot to the right of them. "I think I heard something." Running over in that direction the girls stared at the sight before them. "Wow! Look at all the beautiful flowers...but..they shouldn't be in bloom and why would they be planted all the way over here where no one would see them?"

"This can't be right...I know some of these flowers from helping plant in the garden and they should be dead by now, especially with the early frost we had yesterday. It's way too cold and there hasn't been any rain in a while to give them nourishment..especially out here." Sakura said with a confused look on her face. "Hey, Madison is there a card that would do this?"

"I think that answers your question, Sakura." Madison said with a laugh as she pointed to a ghostly white figure off to side who was dancing around the area leaving flowers sprouting and blooming as she went. "Introducing Flowery, Sakura."

"Well in that case." Sakura said with a grin, releasing her wand then pointing it in the direction of the card. "The only thing left to say is.. Flowery, return to your power confine, Flowery!"


	5. All in A Days Work

Disclaimer: Well thought was gonna abandon this one but Alan asked me to and so for him I will make the effort to try and revive this fic though no guarantees since it's been a long time and I can't remember the last time I watched Cardcaptors. Anyway I hope you enjoy and please review, would appreciate it lots.

IMPORTANT: When I decided to continue this I went back and was horrified by my grammar and such so the past four chapters have been fixed up and edited. I also added onto the forth chapter a bit as it needed the sprucing so anyone who had red before and was going to start back on this chap I would recommend u reread chap 4 to read the add ons. Thanks and bye for now.

All in A Days Work

Sakura lay on her bed with her cards spread out before her as she and Madison looked them over waiting for Jet to arrive. The two girls were talking strategy as to how the cards she had could be used against other cards that were still on the loose while Kero sat on the floor playing Harvest Moon 5. Sakura had explained to Madison about who Jet really was and why he was here which worried Madison and was one of the reasons this meeting had been arranged so that the two could really meet and form their opinions. "You know, Sakura, it's really great that you have two of the strongest cards since the other ones aren't powerful enough to face some of the others out there. Flowery, Little, Bubble and Change won't really come in handy so its good that you also have cards like Erase and the two elements to balance it all out. Plus I can't wait to try out Fly, what's it like?"

"What do you mean? I've never used it." Sakura said placing her head on top of her hands as she looked at Madison questioningly. "Kero said something about coming in handy when you need to get somewhere pretty fast but that's about it."

"Well Dash would be better for getting somewhere on land but when it comes to air the Fly Card is master." Madison said as she picked up the card in question. "You see when you use this card it attaches wings to your wand so that you can ride it kinda like a witch on her broomstick type deal. Once you get more powerful you can even have the wings transferred onto your back like having angel wings. Pretty cool huh?"

"Yeah, will definitely have to try it out." Sakura said thinking that these cards of hers would really come in handy. Kero had told her that certain cards that didn't quite seem to have much use actually did but you had to look at it in terms of everyday use instead of as fighting tools. The Bubbles card was great for cleaning and the Flowery card could most certainly brighten up any place with her beautiful flowers. "Jet should be here any minute, I'm gonna go down to meet him at the door. Be right back." Sakura said as she left the cards with Madison to walk down her steps and out her door. Walking down the hallway she stopped at the stairs then headed down the stairs to sit at the bottom of them as she waited for the doorbell to ring. Not having to wait long Sakura called out the customary I have it before hurrying over the door and opening it to find Jet there wearing jeans and a black T-shirt. He still looked like a geek but at least he was a well dressed geek in clothes that were something he'd normally wear which made him feel better. "Hey, come on in." Sakura said stepping back to let him in. "Welcome to the Yuy and Maxwell house."

I

"Thanks for having me." Syaoran said with a smile as he leaned over to take off his shoes then setting them neatly on the mat followed her into the kitchen.

"I didn't bring the snacks up yet because I knew Kero would eat them all before you got here." Sakura said with a chuckle as she got out a tray from one of the cupboards and setting it on the breakfast bar pointed towards the cupboard beside the fridge. "Can you grab three glasses from there? Is lemonade okay?" When he nodded and said yes on both counts Sakura left him to do that while she got out the tin of MS cookies she'd hidden and set the tin on the tray while he added three glasses to it and she fetched the picture of lemonade from the fridge. Getting him to carry the juice Sakura took the tray and soon the two were heading up the stairs to her room. Punching in her code Sakura bumped the door open and welcomed him to her lair.

"You have a security lock on your bedroom door?" Syaoran said with a raised eyebrow as they walked up the stairs. It was a nice house and he bet there was a lot of valuable stuff there but locks on the bedroom doors seemed a bit much.

"It's to keep the boys out of my room and my stuff." Sakura said with a chuckle as she reached the top. Taking the tray over to the small table she'd brought up and set in the middle of the room Sakura waited till he'd set the juice down before making the introductions as she poured the juice into the glasses. "Li Syaoran this is Madison Reed, Madison this is Syaoran aka Jet for the time being. Of course you've already met but I figured I might as well do it again since I figured Madison should know who you really are as we'll all be working together."

"You certainly are disguised well, the necklace around your neck?" Madison asked as she got off the bed to join them at the table. "I sense a great deal of power emitting from it though it's disguised well."

"Yes it is." Syaoran said with a nod then thanked Sakura as she handed him a glass. "I knew there would have been someone with magic placed to be around Sakura when she was younger but I had assumed it would be someone closer to her but then again no one was closer to the original Sakura then her best friend Madison who was a great help even without magic." Taking a cookie Syaoran bit in then eyes going wide chewed with pleasure before staring at them in amazement. "Where the hell did you guys get these? I've never..these beat the hell out of ever cookie I've ever tasted!"

I

"They're MS cookies, Sakura and I invented them." Madison said smiling more openly as she sat down and helped herself to a cookie. "Lethal aren't they? I remember when we were fourteen and Sakura and I made a killing selling them at the annual garage sales in this area. We handed out one free sample and they were hooked."

"Who wouldn't be." Kero said with a laugh then pouted when he saw that there were only three cups. "Hey, where's my cup, Sakura?"

"Coming right up, Kero." Sakura said with a roll of her eyes before getting up to walk over to her school back pack. Riffling around she soon returned with a bag of straws in her hand and a small bag. Opening the bag once she'd sat down again Sakura pulled out a child's cup with the sun and the moon decorating the sides while there was a lid on top with a hole for a straw. Filling the cup up with lemonade Sakura put the lid on then stuck a straw in. "I got you your own special cup, just for you."

"Aww cool!" Kero crowed, delighted with his cup as he alternated between decimating his share of the cookies and slurping up his juice in his totally awesome personal cup. "I love these cookies so much I could eat them all day, every day."

"Well then you'd definitely grow bigger but I don't think it would be in the way you wanted, Kero." Madison said with a laugh, picturing a blimp shaped like Kero as he floated along trying to give Sakura directions while stuffing his face with more cookies that were the size of Smarties in comparison to Kero's paws. "You wouldn't be much of a guardian beast if you couldn't move because you were the size of Tokyo Tower."

"Now that's a scary thought." Sakura said with a snicker as she pictured the scene Madison was describing. "Then I'd have to use the Little Card all the time so that he'd fit into the house, not to mention preventing him from becoming the next Godzilla."

"Funny, very funny." Kero replied sarcastically as he bit into a cookie with a bit more force then was totally necessary.

I

Since both Madison and Syaoran were transferring to Sakura's school they had decided to hold off going till Monday so that they could start at the beginning and have the week to get into the groove of things. Syaoran had arrived promptly to walk the girls to school much to the amusement of the parents and the disgust of Solo who thought the kid couldn't be much of an egghead if he thought he stood a chance with either girl. Both those girls were feminist trouble and however pretty the package they could be as mean as snakes and twice as deadly. Okay so maybe they weren't that bad but still..okay so maybe he just didn't like the sight of the three walking down the street with that Jet kid in the middle locked arm in arm with a girl on either side.

The trio arrived at school a bit early so that Sakura could take them in to meet the principal and get things underway. Syaoran was actually a year younger then Sakura and Madison but he'd have some classes with the two girls since he'd arranged to take some of them despite the grade difference. Of course neither Sakura nor Madison could understand why he'd want to take advanced chemistry and math with them he simply shrugged and said that he was good at those subjects and besides, if he was going to have to play the geek he might as well act like it. Actually Sakura said it was a good thing since Madison always did bad in chemistry and Sakura wasn't much better so Syaoran could tutor them when they ran into trouble. After giving Syaoran a tour of the place since Madison already knew her way around Madison offered to share a locker with Syaoran so that they could keep magical tools with them and not have to worry about their locker partners asking about them. Agreeing that it was a good idea the two took a locker and loaded their stuff in while Sakura left to put her stuff in her own locker and retrieve a textbook. Walking down the hallway Sakura froze when she felt something poking into her back that moved. Moving out of the way of the normal crowded hallway Sakura set her bag down and opening it wasn't at all surprised to see a familiar yellow face looking sheepishly back at her. "Kero what are you doing in there?"

I

"Well I keep missing your captures and since the cards will always be attracted to your magic its a good idea that I be where you are as much as possible. You've been doing a pretty good job, Sakura but I know these cards and the way they work. There are a lot of hard ones other than the elements you have to worry about but with me around you'll stand a lot better chance capturing them." Kero said as she balanced on top of one of her textbooks, hoping that she wasn't too mad at him. She had the Li temper all right and he had a feeling he'd be in a lot of trouble getting on her bad side, especially when he was in this form. Now if he was in his true form there'd be no problem but as long as he resembled a stuffed animal there wasn't a lot that he could do. "So Madison and the kid are getting along pretty good huh? I think they'll come in handy and at least the kid isn't nearly as annoying as the Brat was. Always calling me a stuffed animal and making fun of the fact that I was stuck in this form." Kero added with a grumble.

"Well you do look like a stuffed animal but you aren't useless...you're great at cleaning off a plate." Sakura said with a laugh as she closed her bag up half way so that he would still get air as she swung the bag back over her shoulder and continued on her way to her locker, opening it to find that Leah had already been there since there was a note from her saying that she'd meet Sakura and Madison for lunch under their usual spot. Pleased with the idea Sakura collected her books and stashed away what she didn't before heading out to class.

I

Noticing that Syaoran was dragging his feet just a little at lunch time Sakura had to grin at the show of reluctance over the thought of having lunch with Leah. "Don't look so worried, you don't look anything like your former self so as far as she knows you're Jet and a friend of mine. We won't let her pick on you." Sakura added with a chuckle. "And she has a thing about picking on people weaker then she is so you're pretty safe."

"One if she did pick on me I could more then handle myself and two I am not worried." Syaoran said with a dark look as he stuck his tongue out at Sakura. He was just a little nervous about seeing her was all. There was just something about her that got to him and he always felt a tad unsettled when she was around. Of course they'd only talked twice, once the night before the match where they'd end up arguing and the other after their match where they'd been busy challenging each other to a rematch and trying to pretend that they weren't both in serious pain. But she was just so cute when she was riled up which she tended to be whenever he was in the room, Syaoran thought with a sigh then felt his mouth go dry as he saw her waiting on a blanket spread out under a large oak. Apparently Leah and Sakura kept the blanket in their locker for this and she looked exactly as he remembered her only her hair was down, raven black tresses that hung down to her waist and nearly hid half of her face. She was well tanned from all her time outdoors and her blue eyes watched them as they walked over to join her.

"Sorry we're late, Leah." Sakura said as she set her bag down on the corner of the blanket, Madison doing the same with Syaoran reluctantly doing the same. "This is Jet by the way, it's okay that he eats with us? He's new too and he doesn't know any of the guys around here well yet."

I

"Sure no problem, nice to meet you, Jet." Leah said with a welcoming nod thinking that odds are the kid would either end up staying with them for the rest of the year or ending up eating lunch in the corner with the other nerds and anti social individuals. This kid was going to get eaten alive, Leah thought with sympathy and decided to adopt him then and there. Sakura had told her that Jet was her age so she'd make sure that their peers knew that anyone who picked on him would have to deal with her. It was the honorable thing to do and he seemed like a nice guy, Leah thought as she watched him take a seat on the blanket, blinking when she saw how his tray was loaded down with food. How the hell could he eat so much and still be so skinny? She doubted he was the athletic type so eating that much you'd think he'd be a blimp. Unless he was just one of those people who ate a lot when they were nervous and the whole new school thing was getting to him.

"High metabolism." Jet said noticing where her gaze was, Madison and Sakura having already commented on it. "My mother is always complaining that its not fair that I got it when I don't need it to begin with." Of course that was because he worked out so much he would have worked it off anyway but she didn't need to know that. "Sakura says we have gym together, what sport are we playing?"

"Football." Leah answered, already getting pictures of the kid being grounded into the dirt. What was he doing taking gym at this level where taking the class was usually for those who needed the easy grade or we're really into sports. Neither fit in this guy's case since Sakura had said he was really smart and taking a lot of advanced classes. So was she for that matter.

"Awesome, flagged or full body contact?" Syaoran asked, forgetting all about the fact that physically he looked like the boy who was always picked last at sports and who didn't last long once they were given a chance to play. "It's been a while since I've played but it's a fun game, especially when it's played like it's just a game."

"Well Sakura and I both have that period off so we'll come and cheer you guys on." Madison said with a laugh, reading Leah's horror correctly. Boy was everyone in for a surprise, she thought with another laugh thinking about what she knew about Syaoran. Since he was strong enough to take on Leah and nearly beat her he must be in amazing shape and therefore despite what he looked like he'd be a force to be reckoned with on the field. In other words she wasn't going to miss that gym class for the world.


	6. Playing In The Sand

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the plot and the original characters. Everything else belongs to someone else. Hope you enjoy and please review. 

Note: Sry about the )s you'll see. It's the only way I can make paragraphs won't screw up. -- 

Playing In The Sand 

By the end of the school day what had happened at that gym classes was known by over half the student body and still going strong. People were all eager to check Jet out and out of sympathy Madison flaked him on one side and Sakura took the other side with Leah in front to form a barricade as they attempted to make their way out of the school hallways so that they could go home for the day. But people were making that very difficult and Leah was losing her patience fast which was never a good thing. Syaoran was rather overwhelmed with the way he'd become the person to gawk at or at least he was till he thought about why they were gawking and could sort of understand. In this body he looked like a gangly geek and geeks didn't send huge muscle bound football players into the dirt without breaking a sweat. He couldn't have played badly just to agree nerd like though, it went against the grain and besides that Leah had been there. So when that huge hulk of muscle had come charging at him with the ball he's taken the guy down with a hard tackle which was what you were supposed to do in such situations. It had been a really nice tackle too. Of course if he'd known that the guy was the captain of the football team he might have hesitated to take him on. The fact that he'd bounced back from the tackle while the captain was still reeling from the tackle hadn't helped either. 

"Well at least the few bullies in this school will think twice about messing with you, Jet." Madison said as they finally got out of the building and began walking down the stairs. "Looks like Leah didn't even have to warn them off for you." 

"She did?" Syaoran said looking at the lady in question who was walking in front of them and it was all he could do not to stare at her. She has such a cute butt too, Syaoran thought then nearly went tumbling down the stairs and would have if Sakura and Madison hadn't grabbed his arms. Those kinds of thoughts were obviously a health hazard. "Ah thanks, I'm fine." Syaoran said with cheeks going red as all three girls asked him if he was alright. Leah would be pushing him down the stairs if she knew he'd been admiring her figure and that's why he'd nearly fallen. 

) 

"And yeah I did. I can't stand bullies and they know better to think that they can mess with me and stay in one piece." Leah said with a grin, smirking at the fact that he was blushing. She still couldn't figure out how he'd managed to kick so much ass during gym though. The kid was quite fast on his feet and he moved with a grace that was at odds with the image he projected. It was like he was an athlete trapped in a geek's body but that didn't make sense since in that case he should have been able to build up some bulk. And there was just something about him that didn't seem right to her but she couldn't put her finger on it. He was a really nice guy though, a lot more polite and courteous then most guys their age. She hadn't heard him swear or talk trash once though he seemed to be a social guy surprisingly enough. If he was better built and cuter she'd bet he would be quite popular. Not that he was bad looking or even ordinary. She supposed he was cute in a way even with the glasses. "Any of them bother you and you can't handle them let me know and I'll get them off your back." 

"Thanks, I'll remember that." Syaoran said with a smile, pleased that she'd actually beat up someone for harassing him even if it was a slight blow to his pride that she thought she'd need to. He was just as good as she was but she didn't know that and couldn't know that or else she'd be wanting to kick his ass. he wouldn't mind a pat on the ass though. 

Later that night 

"Okay, so then the judge is going on and on about the rights of the parents and I was arguing that using a baseball bat as a way of punishment should be a clue that these people were not meant to be parents. God I was ready to hit the judge with a nice grand slam to the face let me tell you." Katie Maxwell said with a huff as she added more salad to her plate. "But I was finally able to get it across to him that if he didn't agree to make the children the ward of the state I was going to make his life a living hell. So I got my way and am now working on my report to try and get those bastards in jail where they belong and if they don't I'm going to rebuild a Gundam and squash them." 

"And I'll help you, Mom." Solo said and received a warm smile from his mother for his offer. His mom was a social worker and he knew just how ragged she ran herself trying to make a difference. Personally he thought anyone who would hit their child deserved to be squashed by a Gundam. His parents had never raised a hand to him and neither had Sakura's and they'd turned out just fine. Well at least he'd turned out fine, Sakura was still a little weird in his books and getting more so by the day. She'd been staying up in her room with Madison and that Jet guy a lot which bugged him to know end. They hardly ever talked recently and Solo missed arguing with the twerp and getting into fights about stupid things that made no sense afterwards. And he could understand her wanting to spend a lot of time with Madison but what was with the Jet guy? I mean she barely knows him when he moves here and now it's like he's her best friend. Like the kid had up and replaced him a little voice in Solo's head said making him want to blow up said little voice. The kid had only been there for a little less then a week for Christ sakes. "Madison, could you pass the peas please and thanks?" Solo asked, shaking himself out of it and accepting the peas with a smile added a couple of spoonfuls to his plate before setting in back onto the table. 

) 

"So I understand your friend Jet made quite the impression on the football coach today, young ladies." Duo said with a grin, unknowingly bringing up one of the people on Solo's current I wish they'd fall out of a building list. "He must have some moves to have sent the captain of the football team flying. That boy may not look like much but to pull that off I have to tip my hat to him..if I was wearing a hat which I'm not." Duo added with a chuckle. When his wife and Relena gave him curious looks Duo explained about how in gym class Jet had shown some real skill in football and had sent the captain of the football team flying and seeing stars. "I was talking to the principal when I came in to drop some paperwork off for Katie and he said the coach was even thinking about trying to get the kid on the team if he'll go for it. Think he would?" 

"I don't think so, Uncle Duo." Madison said with a shake of her dark head as she put some more pepper on her mashed potatoes. "Jet likes sports but I think he said he was trying to concentrate on his grades this year and didn't want to do any extracurricular activities but I suppose you never know." 

"If they can find a jersey and equipment that will actually fit him." Sakura said with a chuckle thinking of poor Jet drowning in too big football equipment. 

"Well they could always shrink them down to his size." Solo said with a smile, pleased that she didn't sound like she was talking about someone all that special to her. Not that he cared mind you but the guy was too young for her not to mention frail looking. Sakura would walk all over the poor kid before he even saw it coming. So pleased was he with the news that he decided to give her his surprise anyway. "Oh and Sakura you know that brown leather jacket I have with the my initials on the back?" 

) 

"Yeah...I didn't borrow it without asking again so if you're going to accuse me of it I demand proof and my lawyer present." Sakura said with a mutinous look on her face. It was no secret that Sakura had always loved the jacket, jumping at any chance to wear the beloved jacket. It was too big for her of course but she liked it that way, like a big warm hug. 

"I wasn't accusing you of anything, Sakura. I was going to say that you can have it if you want to. I tried to wear it a few days ago and it's gotten too tight around the shoulders for me. Since you love it so much I thought I'd give it to you." Solo said with a grin as he watched Sakura's jaw drop as she gapped at him in complete shock at him. "You do want it don't you?" 

"Are you kidding? Of course I want it!" Sakura said with a huge grin on her face as she jumped from her seat and running across the other side of the table turned his chair with him still in it to face her then hopping into his lap hugged him hard and placed kisses on his cheeks in between hugs. Everyone laughing as they watched Solo go a rather interesting shade of red. 

Two Days Later 

"So then I was like flying through the air and hurtling towards the ground with rather alarming speed when I remembered Fly so I quickly called it and just managed to get on it before I crashed into this huge tree." Sakura said animatedly as she described her most recent card capture to Syaoran which had been one hell of a capture if she did say so herself. They were all at the park at the moment near their school having just got out of class. "I mean chasing after the dash card was sure hard work." 

"Well if you hadn't been chasing it on top of the Preventers building which happens to be twenty stories high I don't think it would have been so dangerous, Sakura." Madison said with a dark look on her face thinking she'd nearly had a heart attack when it had happened. They'd been at Preventers to drop off some stuff to Sakura's dad and they'd been on their way to the elevator when Sakura had sensed a Sakura Card. Following her instincts Sakura had found it and chased it up to the roof of the building and then she'd gone chasing right after it. Unfortunately it had been a really windy day and a particularly strong gust of wind had hit Sakura while she was practically on the edge sending her flying over. Luckily Sakura had remembered the Fly card and had gone right back after Dash like nothing had happened. Sakura had caught the little bugger too. 

) 

"You're lucky you weren't hurt, Sakura. You weren't, were you?" Syaoran said with a concerned look on his face as he gave her the once over. "We need a better way to communicate or I'm never going to be there to help you unless I'm close enough to sense a card too." 

"Hmm well then maybe we should get something like tracker beepers so that we just have to press a button to let the others know there's a card and where we are." Madison said with a thoughtful look after Sakura had assured her cousin that she was fine. "I'm sure we can get something like that, we can ask Uncle Duo about it and say its for a project or something. Or we could bribe your dad, Sakura with MS cookies." 

"Sounds like a plan to me. We'll bring it up at supper tonight and see which one can be bribed the quickest." Sakura said with a chuckle as she stuck her hands into her jacket pockets. She was always wearing Solo's jacket now and several teachers had recognized it and given her weird looks. Madison had finally explained that some of them had taken her wearing Solo's old jacket to mean that she was with him in a dating sort of sense which Sakura found very amusing and made no move to quell the rumors. If they were crazy enough to believe that then they weren't going to believe her even if she was telling the truth. "So we'll need four then, one maybe that Kero can wear as a sort of backpack? Unlike a ten year old I can't exactly justify taking a stuffed animal with me everywhere and he hates being treated like one to begin with. If we give him one too that would make things easier I think and he'd be a lot happier. He eats more when he's upset and I can't keep blowing my money on extra food for the little bottomless pit." 

"You're telling me. He eats more then growing teenage boys and they eat so much it's a wonder the world hasn't completely run out of natural resources." Madison said with a laugh as she ran a hand through her dark hair before sliding down a slide while Sakura and Syaoran swung on the swings. The three chatted for a bit then were all set to go when they all felt the presence of something that hadn't been there a moment before. A magical presence. "Do you guys feel that? Is it a Sakura Card?" 

) 

"I'd lay my money on it." Syaoran said as he set his backpack back down on the picnic table where they'd set their bags. Reaching into the front part of his backpack Syaoran withdrew several pieces of long stripes of paper with words written in Chinese on them. Holding the limp pieces in front of him they suddenly went straight and spread out like a beautiful paper fan in front of him. "The question is what card are we dealing with today." 

"Lets find out shall we?" Sakura said as she released her wand and twirling it in her hand tried to sense where the card was as they spread out in a triangle with their eyes peeled. They didn't have long to wait as a pool of sand appeared between them and they all turned to see the ground become a whirlpool of sand growing bigger and bigger as though it intended to consume them along with the playground. 

) 

"Sakura it's the Sand Card." Syaoran called out as he backed up, not sure what of his cards would do the trick. His mind racing quickly he thought of what made up sand and could hold something like sand long enough for her to seal the card. His chemist mind working on over drive Syaoran gave a yell as the sand suddenly lashed out at Madison who was trying to climb up the slide she'd been on earlier. "Madison!" 

"Hold on, Madison. Hey you big pile of beach, it's me you want to pick a fight with not her." Sakura said as tried to distract the sand which only made the sand pool widen. "What can we use against it? I can't think of anything that will hold it!" 

"I have an idea! Sakura use the Fiery card on it." Syaoran called out as a crazy idea came into his mind but it was a crazy idea that just might work. While Sakura summoned the powerful element card and set it loose on the sand while Syaoran called out to Madison. "Madison, I know you have magic too. Can you create lightning or something like it and fire?" 

"Yeah why?" Madison asked as she managed to reach the top of the slide since the sand card was too busy try to sandstorm the Fiery Card away at the moment. 

"Sakura back away from it so that you don't get pulled into this. Madison hurl your lightning and fire at Sand with everything you've got. Element lightning. Element Fire" Syaoran called out as he plucked the two pieces of parchment out of the fan and held them up with a hand that bore a ring bearing his family's crest. Responding to the call the parchments shot out lightning and fire into the swirling mass to join the Fiery Card and joined by Madison's the sand sparked and flamed, slowly stopping its whirling as it appeared to be turning into ice or glass in the middle, the shiny substance spreading out quickly to consume the sand as Syaoran had hoped it would. "Sakura seal it now!" 

"Sand Card, return to your power confine. Sand Card." Sakura demanded and swirling and blowing the hard changed into what looked like a sand sculpture of an exotic genie before it became a card, floating over to Syaoran who took it from the air with a grin. Walking over to Sakura he held the card out to her with a grin and smiling her thanks took it from him. "So exactly what did we do?" 

"We were turning it into glass, Sakura." Syaoran said with a smile as he slid his parchments back into his pocket. "You see glass is made of sand brought to very high temperatures so basically we were heating the sand up causing a chemical reaction which was turning it into something that couldn't move." 

) 

"I will never say chemistry is a useless subject again. Are you sure you don't want this? You really do deserve it." Sakura said as she held the card out to him but he just shook his head at her. 

"No, there wouldn't be any point to it anyway since whoever becomes the official cardcaptor gets all the cards. I wouldn't be much competition with only a few cards now would I? I'll stick to helping you, Sakura." Syaoran said with a smile, wishing he could tell her about Yue but knowing now wasn't the time. He and Madison had both been told by Kero that they weren't allowed to tell her bout the Judge and they understood that she could only be told once she needed to know. First the cards needed to be captured..then they'd have to face judgment. 


	7. Happy Valentines Day

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plots.

NOTE: If I don't get more reviews for this fic I will be starting to wrap it up early since I have other fics with a much larger group of readers waiting for updates. Thanks.

Happy Valentines Day

Months had passed since the first card was captured and slowly but surely Sakura was getting to cross off the number of rogue cards still out there. It was already February and being a cardcaptor was now second nature to her like a second job she couldn't tell anyone about and unfortunately didn't get paid for. Well no one other then Madison and Syaoran but they really didn't count since they'd known about cardcaptors and such long before she'd become one. Madison had moved out before Christmas too and into the new house her parents had bought which had been a downer but it wasn't like Madison could live here forever. So now the only non family member in the house was Kero who continued to threaten to eat the family out of house and hold unfortunately. Thankfully with the number of male teenagers constantly in the house the parents had yet to be overly suspicious but Sakura figured that would only last for so long. Everything was going okay in school too or at least it was until the Mirror Card caused Sakura an unforeseen problem she was still fuming about. The stupid card had taken on Sakura's form and had up and accepted an invitation to the Valentines Day dance with someone Sakura couldn't stand. Plus she hadn't known about it till the jerk had called her the other day and now she didn't know what to do. Sure she didn't like the guy but as far as everyone else knew she had accepted and it would be wrong to just turn around and tell him she'd rather watch paint dry. Plus now she could count on none of the other guys asking her to go since the idiot Mark had practically broadcasted it all around the school that she was going with him. Sakura was thinking that she'd fall unexpectedly ill on Valentine's Day which totally sucked but was the only logical excuse that wouldn't have her coming off as a mean bitch. It wasn't that Mark was so terrible but he was a bit too full of himself and tended to look down on everyone else just because he was so smart. Well maybe he was but in Sakura's eyes he was definitely not all that. Sighing Sakura lay on her bed and envisioned a sucky Valentines Day to come.

Valentines Day

The halls were full of people or should she say couples mooning over each other and groups giggle about the dance and the guys they hoped to get some sort of love token from. Personally she knew she was in for a lot of chocolate from family and friends which she was more then fine with. She had enough boy troubles as it was. Coming up to her locker Sakura came to a grinding halt at the picture before her of her cousin Syaoran, aka Jet giving Leah a white teddy bear..and chocolate. Blinking she watched him shuffle his feet with pink cheeks while Leah went approximately the same shade as her box of chocolates. Awwww they were so cute, Sakura thought as she went all mushy and sentimental as she watched them talk for a few moments before Jet hightailed it out of there leaving Leah looking as close to mushy as Sakura had ever seen her godsister. Walking over Sakura grinned at her. "Cute bear."

"Yeah, isn't it." Leah said in close to a dreamy voice as she hugged the bear tightly against her. She didn't have many stuffed animals since her brothers had always had a habit of "playing" with them and then returning them in various forms of mutilation. She was going to have to hid this one. She wasn't going to let anything happen to him. "He got me chocolate too. Most guys would be too afraid of my brothers and the other guys to get me something for Valentine's Day but Jet isn't. Even though they're so much bigger and stronger then he is."

"Well your family likes Jet." Sakura pointed out though that wasn't entirely accurate. The Chang males didn't mind Jet around Leah because they viewed Jet as being too geeky to pull a move, much less pull something that Leah couldn't dish out with a hundred times the pain. Since Jet hung out with Madison and herself all the time it was hard for the family not to get to know him and like him either. The moms just loved him though because as they put it he was just so hopelessly adorable. Sakura knew for a fact that normally gorgeous would have been a better word but they never say that side of Syaoran and likely wouldn't until the whole cards thing was over. She wasn't quite sure how Leah was going to take that once she realized she was beginning to fall head over heels for her former arch nemesis and Sakura wasn't exactly looking forward to that scene. Winking at Leah Sakura quickly got her stuff then saying good bye left Leah to hug her bear and figure out how she was gonna make sure her dad didn't know that Jet had bought it for her.

I

Hurrying down the hallway a little while later Sakura was fuming. Apparently Mark seemed to be avoiding her as if he knew she was trying to break their date and knew she couldn't if she couldn't find him. Wanting to stomp her foot in frustration Sakura decided enough was enough, she'd break up with the idiot over the phone and deal with the comments on Monday. Walking outside so that she could get better reception Sakura was leaning against a brink wall to dial when she heard the sound of footsteps coming her way. Hearing the sound of Mark's best friend Chase Sakura hesitated, thinking Mark might be with him but deciding to make sure Sakura opted to wait till they passed her by.

"...you believe that idiot? Thinking he could take us all on at once? Boy I bet he wishes he hadn't now. No chick is gonna wanna look at his face now that we're done with it." Chase was saying as he drew closer, Sakura's ears naturally tuning in out of curiosity. "Serves him right for talking to Mark like that."

"Yeah but, Chase..isn't that Maxwell kinda like family, doesn't he live in the same house as Sakura? I mean if someone were talking bout my sister the way Mark was talking about Sakura I'd be really mad too and let the guy have it." Came a weak voice, one Sakura recognized as Peter Wormwood, a new student who was trying to fit in way too hard and had fallen into the position of Mark's lackey from what she heard and seen. Poor kid.

"What are you, stupid? Besides that bitch needs to be taken down a notch or two, the way she's always sticking her nose in the air because she's got royal blood like that means anything anymore. Mark's gonna mellow her out real good though." Chase said with a snicker as he winked at Peter in a way that had Peter's head pounding. "Sides she agreed to go with him, not like he forced her or anything."

I

"Yeah but she's always seemed nice to me and if Mark does what he says he's gonna do and her brother finds out..I mean he was the captain of the fencing team ya know, coach told us about him and stuff. Plus I heard he's as tough as his dad in a fight, not to mention all those god brothers she has." Peter pointed out weakly, obviously uncomfortable and unsure of himself but trying to make a point. When Chase's response was to tell Peter he was an idiot Peter tried to make Chase see reason. "But I still think ganging up on the guy like that was wrong. I mean the things Mark was sayin..about what he was gonna..what she..well you know." Peter said as his ears went a bright red. "My momma would shoot me dead if I ever talked about a girl like that and I wouldn't really blame her one bit. He was just stickin up for her, ya know?"

"Well just exactly who's side are you on, Peter?" Came Chase's response, so cold and quiet that Peter could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end. That was the voice of someone you didn't want to upset any time soon.

"I'm just sayin..nevermind." Peter said weakly and didn't even notice Sakura watching him as he and Chase walked by, her eyes flashing dangerously as her mind went a mile a minute. Piecing together the pieces she'd been given she could speculate that Mark had been bragging to his friends about getting her in his backseat or worse and Solo had been in the area for some reason and had overheard. Since Mark tended to travel with his stooges all the time Mark had apparently sicced them on Solo when Solo had come over to tell Mark off. They had hurt Solo. They were going to pay.

I

Sakura came home with a split lip, blood on her shirt and a satisfied look on her face. Walking straight upstairs Sakura changed out of her dirty clothes and was just finishing putting her hair in a ponytail when her mother hailed her over the com. Answering that she'd be right down Sakura quickly finished looping the band around her hair then headed down to find her mother and Solo's drinking coffee and looking stern and prepared to do battle. Uh oh. "Yeah? What's up?"

"Sakura...I understand you're going to the Valentines' Day dance tonight with Mark Hamilton..is that right?" Relena asked carefully, not quite sure what to think. Solo had made it clear he didn't want Sakura to know that his injuries were because of her and Relena had to respect that even if it made her job of getting Sakura to break this date harder.

"No I'm not." Sakura answered then seeing the surprise and the relief on their faces clued in pretty quick. "The jerk's been after me for months to go out with him so I finally said yes for tonight to shut him up. Then I realized that was just stupid so I've been trying to cancel the date all week but he's been avoiding me so I didn't manage to break it till today. Why?"

"Well we'd just heard some bad things about him and we were concerned. So you're going to the dance alone then? Or With Madison and Jet?" Katie asked with a relieved smile on her face.

"Naw, I figured I'd just hang here at home and chill. Valentines' Day dances are pretty much for couples and I don't feel much like partying tonight anyway. I think I'll just rent some movies and veg in front of the couch. You guys are all going out right?" Sakura said as she remembered that her dad and Uncle Duo were both wisely taking their ladies out for a night on the town for the occasion. Solo was going out to with some blonde bombshell too and Sakura figured that Solo would take advantage of his scratches from today and use them to get the blonde to kiss them all better. Okay so that was a bit mean and she did owe him...unfortunately.

I

"Actually you'll have Solo for company tonight." Katie said with a weak smile on her face, still a little frazzled from the call from Sally to tell her Solo was currently occupying a bed in her infirmary. "He got into a fight this afternoon and he's too banged up to go out to go tonight so he canceled his date. I think he'll pretty much stay in his room most of the time so you won't have to worry about him bothering you."

"He's hurt that bad?" Sakura said carefully, her hands fisting at her sides as she wished she could find Mark and beat the hell out of him again.

"Well he says he isn't but his back is black and blue and he can't even stand up straight at the moment." Relena replied with a shake of her head. "It would be nice of you to take him up some supper though, Sakura and..what did you do to your lip?"

"Oh it's nothing..long story." Sakura said as she felt the heavy weight of guilt land square on her shoulders with a plop. "Uhm I'm going to make my MS deliveries...unless there's something else?"

"Nope, say hi to everyone." Relena said with a smile and watching her girl go Relena smiled and turned to Katie with a grin on her aristocratic face. "Sakura found out and kicked those boys' asses..didn't she?"

"Oh I'd lay serious money on it." Katie agreed as she tapped her coffee cup against Relena's with a grin of her own, glad to hear that the little punks had been made to pay and by a female hand as well. "Our children may delight in fighting with each other but anyone else tries to mess with one they can expect the other to have a serious problem with it."

I

It had taken Sakura forever to put it all together and standing before her work Sakura thought to herself that Solo had better appreciate all the work she'd done or she was going to hurt him more. The idea had come to her as she was out delivering her Valentines' Day gifts to all the members of her family and once the idea had taken root it had only expanded. Now that everything was done she just had to get the guest of honor downstairs which was gonna be a bit difficult. But she did have a plan. Heading out of the basement Sakura headed up the stairs then to the main floor then up to the second floor where she'd already positioned the mattress. Talking to Fly for a moment to make sure she knew what to do Sakura smiled and adjusting the position a bit nodded her agreement then sure of success headed over to Solo's door and buzzed him. "Solo, come down to your door."

"Jesus I get banged to hell and you can't even bring my dinner to me." Came his snarled response and two whole minutes later Sakura watched the door open to reveal Solo in black boxers and a white tank top, his hair a mess and a pained look in his eye. "Where's the food?" Solo demanded to know once he saw her hands were empty. "If you made me get up for the fun of it I will kill you."

"Our carriage to your food awaits." Sakura said as she pointed to the mattress resting at the top of the steps. "Get on."

"What the...you can't be serious." Solo said as he looked at her with shock. As children they'd use to take the mattress from the guest room and used it like a sled down the stairs but they hadn't done that in years and he wasn't exactly in any condition to do it now. "I'm not exactly up to this ya know, squirt."

"Quit being such a baby." Sakura said as she walked over and took a seat in the front. "All you need to do is hold on to my waist and trust me. It's the only way you're getting fed." Sakura added with a dark look knowing just what buttons to push.

I

"You suck." Solo said with a dark look as he painfully made his way over to the mattress and sat down hard with a groan. Wrapping his arms around her waist Solo closed his eyes and prayed in his head as he felt them go hurdling down the stairs only for some reason it wasn't the usually bumpy ride. Opening his eyes Solo watched them almost glide down the stairs then watched as the mattress turned slightly and as if by magic headed for the open door leading to the..basement steps. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph." Solo swore as he closed his eyes tight as they slid across the hallway floor then through the basement door and down the steps, this one definitely more jerky though by some miracle they didn't go flying. Then everything stopped. "Are we dead?" Solo asked with his eyes closed tight still.

"Nope, open your eyes, idiot." Sakura ordered and grinned as she watched him slowly open his eyes then gap as he saw what she'd done. The table in between the TV and the big comfy couch was loaded with goodies. A hot pizza was waiting to be eaten with an assortment of junk food, MS cookies and candy. There was a small cooler beside the table filled with ice cold pop and there were a stack of disks as well with movies just waiting to be watched. "Happy V-Day, baka." Sakura announced with a grin.

"You did all this..for me?" Solo said as he gapped at the food and all the work she must have done to put this together on short notice. Walking forward to make his way over to the couch Solo nearly keeled over from shock when Sakura came over and actually helped him to the couch. Well wasn't she in a mood today. "Those better not be chick flicks." Solo finally managed to say as he looked around at the spread then grinned at her crookedly.

"Please, of course not." Sakura said with a returning grin as she popped in the first flick and then joined him on the couch, dimming the lights slightly as they began to plow their way through the food while the theme for Mission Impossible filled the basement with Kero humming along from a safe distance as he dug into his fair share of the food Sakura had set aside for him. After all, he had helped put this all together too.

I

Arriving back from their date Duo and Katie Maxwell were on their way straight to their room for some more Valentines' Day fun when they heard the television still on downstairs. "Sakura must be still up..but why didn't she just watch on her TV?" Katie said with a puzzled look on her face as she squeezed her husband's hand.

"Well it's three in the morning..she likely fell asleep down there." Duo said with a considering look on his face. "I'll go down and check on her just in case while you go check on our poor son." Duo added with a wink to his wife and with a nod of agreement the two split up to check on the children. Walking down the steps Duo's eyes went wide at the mess then had to grin at the picture the occupants of the sofa made. Both Solo and Sakura were fast asleep, leaning against each other for support. They were snug as bugs in rugs with blankets wrapped around them and enough pillows to insure Solo was as comfortable as he could be. So this was what Sakura had been planning, Duo thought with a grin as he stuck his hands in his pockets. Hearing his wife's quick footsteps Duo turned to see her come down with a worried look on her face that went to relief then a wide grin when she saw the picture before her. "Got a camera?" Duo whispered to his wife. "Heero and Relena will never believe us otherwise."

"I'll go get it." Katie whispered back with a grin as she headed back up the stairs to get the camera.

Duo went over to turn off the TV and blinked when he saw what looked like a yellow lion type thing with wings stuffed animal on the floor. Picking it up Duo recognized it as Sakura's, the one he'd seen her carrying around a few days ago. Picking up the limp stuffed animal Duo walked over and set the stuffed animal on Sakura's shoulder so that it lay sprawled there then got out of the way as his wife came down to take those pictures. Wait till the kids saw it later.


	8. Buried In Snow

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put all my poor characters Thanks to all my faithful readers and please review because I love to hear from you.

I can't believe I'm updated this fic but what do you know, I am. Unless there's new interest don't expect this to become a habit, Alan lol

Buried In Snow

"Damn but it's snowing hard out there." Sakura said to Kero as the two stood in front of her bedroom window, looking out at the swirling white that was responsible for school being canceled. When you were so close to the school campus it took a lot to convince your parents it wasn't safe for you to go. In this case her Uncle Duo had turned off her alarm and waking her up had told her there was no way in hell she was going anywhere until the weather got better. Duo took his title of godfather very seriously, especially when her parents were away and he was the man of the house. In theory anyway.

"Yeah, no wonder your uncle said you weren't to go out unless it was an emergency." Kero agreed from her shoulder, very glad he was in a nice, warm house rather than out there.

"Well I'm going to go down and get us some nice hot coca. Sound good?" Right now, hot chocolate, a warm blanket and a video game contest sounded pretty good to them.

"Oh yeah! And cookies too!"

Laughing Sakura shook her head. Trust Kero to say that. She supposed she was lucky if all he wanted was cookies rather than the entire contents of their kitchen cupboards. "Of course cookies, I couldn't possibly forget those." Leaving him in her room Sakura headed downstairs, about to turn into the kitchen when she caught sight of Solo who appeared to be putting on his winter coat. "What the hell are you doing!" Sakura demanded to know, stomping over with her hands on her hips. "Are you nuts?"

I

"What's driving me nuts is the sounds outside my window." Solo growled, turning to face her with a not pleased at all face. "There something making a noise like crying under my window and I'm not going to be able to ignore it until I find out what's making that damn awful sound!"

"It's probably just the wind, idiot!" God, sometimes his stupidity just floored her.

"It probably is but that doesn't change what it sounds like. I know the odds are low but if it really is something crying then I sure as hell better get my ass out there so that I can bring it in here!"

Blinking Sakura was surprised as she saw the determined look in his eye. He was really going to go out there, in this god awful weather, on the slim chance to none that there was a wounded animal or god forbid a person out there. "I'll have hot chocolate and cookies ready for you..when you get back in." Sakura said softly, sticking her hands awkwardly into her pockets.

"Oh. Thanks." Solo replied just as awkwardly as he quickly finished putting on his gloves and hat. He knew what he was doing was really stupid, he could only be thankful she didn't feel in the mood to rag his ass about it.

"You're welcome. And stay close to the house. With your sense of direction you could end up freezing your ass off on the other side of town. I know how hard it is for you macho men to ask for directions after all." Sakura teased, not wanting this to turn into a mushy moment that would only have the both of them squirming uncomfortably if it were to continue. Their relationship just wasn't like that.

"That's so funny I forgot to laugh." Was his sarcastic reply as he headed out the door, slamming it behind him for good measure.

Laughing Sakura headed for the kitchen to make that hot chocolate. She'd even put in those little marshmallows he liked so much.

I

She wasn't laughing ten minutes later when there was no sign of a very cold, likely very wet Solo. "Where the hell are you." Sakura muttered, walking over to stand at the screen door to stare out into the swirling white. She couldn't have spotted him if he was standing a foot away in this weather. Anxiously gnawing on her bottom lip Sakura gave him another five minute then unable to take anymore rushed out of the room, just in time to collide with Kero who'd come down to find out what was taking her so long.

"Sakura?" Seeing the look on her face Kero knew immediately that something was very wrong. He'd never seen her look so worried before, not even when faced with a really hard card.

"It's Solo, he went out in this weather to check something and he's not back yet. I'm going out to find him." Pushing past the floating guardian Sakura headed straight for the closet, pulling out her coat with a quick jerk.

"But you can't go out there, Sakura, it's way too dangerous. What if you get lost out there!" Kero frantically pointed out while he watched her pull on her boots, lacing them up with dizzying speed. When she didn't answer Kero realized she was too focused on what she was doing to even hear him.

Pulling her hat and gloved from her coat pockets Sakura quickly put those on as well, tugging the hat down as far as they'd go. Turning to order Kero to stay put she blinked when she couldn't see him. Following instinct she looked down to see her guardian beast in her front pocket, a stubborn look on his face as he stared up at her. "You can't come with me, you'll freeze to death."

"I'm tougher then I look and I have this fur here for more then just looking cute you know. I'm your guardian beast, it's my job to look after you. There's no way that I'm just going to let you go out there and leave me behind."

"But, Kero, I..." Everything she was about to say died as the front door opened and in walked in a very cold, very wet Solo Maxwell who was busy cursing a blue streak right up until he caught sight of her.

I

"What the hell are you doing?" Solo demanded to know, ripping off his soaking wet and ice encrusted hat. "Are you nuts, thinking about going out there. I was only out there for fifteen minutes and I nearly froze to death!"

"I was going out to look for you!" Sakura yelled back, too relieved to really get mad at him for yelling at her. He was safe, thank God. Now he just had to be made to pay for making her worry about him. "What the hell took you so long? There's no way it's so bad that it took you fifteen minutes to make your way to the side of the friggin house!"

"You were coming to look for me?" Getting a stupid grin on his face Solo was still grinning as he reached into his pocket and pulling his balled up scarf carefully began to unwrap it to reveal what he'd wrapped in it. "Ands the reason I took so long was that I did find what was making all that noise. Not sure what the hell it is though. I guess it's a doll but it sure looks damn weird."

"A doll?" Sakura repeated, walking over to look at what Solo had cradled in his hands. "Oh My God!" Sakura breathed, putting a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter as she stared at what Solo had in his hands. If she wasn't very much mistaken that was a Sakura Card Solo held in his hands. Only it wasn't in card form. "Can I see it?"

"Sure." Handing the limp form into her hands Solo frowned as he stared at it. "Hearing the noise it was making was damn hard, the way the wind was whipping around out there. I wasn't expecting to see this little thing laying face first in the snow though. It was half buried as it was and given it's weird silvery gray color it's a miracle I spotted it at all. Do you recognize it?" Solo asked, noticing the weird look on her face. "I've never seen a doll like it. It's surprisingly limp, the microchips must be pretty small and thin."

I

"Uhm no, but can I have it?" Sakura asked, not wanting to have to pull the it's an old toy of mine lie again. It was embarrassing enough carting around Kero all the time. Speaking of which, he was getting some extra cookies for having the brains to keep quiet right now.

"If you want." Raising an eyebrow Solo shrugged, not really carrying now that he knew that the strange sound making doll was hopefully going to be quiet now. Or at least out of his ear shot. It was weird though, it hadn't made a peep since he'd brought it in. It had been making the weird crying noises before. Frowning Solo watched Sakura join him in taking off the winter layers necessary to go out in weather like this. "You were really going to go after me, weren't you?"

"Well duh." Rolling her eyes at him Sakura quickly stuffed her stuff back into the closet before turning to face him, her hands behind her back. "I'm going to go upstairs for a minute to put the doll away...to dry off. Then I'll come back down and re-heat the coca for you." That said she took off running back up the stairs, her guardian beast in one hand and the card in her other.

Reaching her door she quickly let herself in then dashing up her stairs soon had both Kero and the card laying on the bed. "It's a Sakura Card, right?" She asked, watching Kero examine the now obviously shivering doll like creature on her bed.

"It's the Storm Card." Kero said in shock, studying the shivering card. "Apparently she and Snow were responsible for the weather outside. They got into a fight over how close they were to where you were and Snow tried to drown Storm in snow. They're both very temperamental cards." Kero added, patting the card's head sympathetically before looking over at Sakura with a smile. "Better seal her now before she warms up enough to realize she needs to get away from you. She must have used up so much of her magic creating this storm with Snow that it's taking all her energy not to return to card form."

I

Sealing the card in record time Sakura had to give the card credit. As soon as Kero had told her to seal Storm away the card had found some reserved energy from somewhere. Enough to try and create a small hail storm in her room anyway. But in the end she'd sealed the card and was now leaving Windy in charge of blow drying her room for her. Finding Solo in the kitchen sipping his drink Sakura apologized for taking so long as she helped herself to some of the coca.

"So what are you going to do with that doll?" Solo asked, looking at her over the rim of his mug as she took a seat beside him at the kitchen counter.

"I'll probably end up throwing her out actually. There was a lot of damage and whoever owned that doll obviously didn't take very good care of it." Sakura fibbed, giving a casual shrug as she sipped from her own mug.

"You've never really been the doll type though. Why the sudden interest?" Solo asked but never got an answer as the sound of people coming through the front door reached their ears. "Well looks like the parents are back. I'll go put some more hot chocolate on for them."

"Good idea." Saved by the godparents, Sakura thought with a smile as she got up to get out some more mugs while Solo added the ingredients necessary to the pan. Setting them by the stove Sakura walked into the hallway to see Solo parents in the process of shaking off the snow they'd accumulated in their walk from the garage to the front door. "Cold enough for you?"

I

"Very funny, kiddo." Duo replied with a not amused look. "Only idiots are out in this weather."

"But wouldn't that make you an idiot, Duo?" His wife pointed out with a laugh as she set her boots on the rack with the others to dry off.

"The only reason I was out in that weather is because you can't drive in good weather, much less weather this bad. It doesn't matter that all the sane people were in their homes, nice and warm. Oh no, you just had to go to the office to pick up some paperwork so that you wouldn't get behind." Exasperated with his wife Duo squeezed his braid to get some of the water out of it. Only for his wife, he thought with a sigh.

"If you hadn't been in too many Gundam wrecks you'd have the brain cells to remember just how much paperwork government jobs generate."

Laughing at the pair of them Sakura spoke up before things could get really bad. "Solo's got hot chocolate for you in the kitchen." Leaving them to continue their heated argument Sakura went back into the kitchen and after sneakily getting another cup for Kero while Solo's back was turned Sakura quickly carried the two mugs up to her room. Kero had earned his caffeine fix.

I

By the next day the storm had died down and it was safe to go outside. Or at least safe enough if you didn't mind trudging through snow that was in spots higher than your knees. School was still canceled for that reason but Madison and Syaoran had braved the weather to come over to see Sakura who delighted them all by retelling the story of how Solo had come to capture the Storm card for her.

"That's so weird." Syaoran said with a shake of his head as he patted down the snow they were using to make a snow sculpture of Kero. "You'd think the card would have tried to get away from Solo."

"Yeah, but I guess it was in such bad shape it was willing to take the risk. Maybe it figured since Solo was willing to risk his neck like that to come out, the least it could do was let him find it." Madison suggested as she carefully shaved off some of the excess snow from the wings.

"That could be it." Kero agreed from his spot in Sakura's coat pocket. It was still pretty cold out but thanks to his fur and Sakura's old mitt he was actually pretty cozy at the moment.

"It also means that Snow is in the area and that she needs to be taken out before she causes another storm like the last one." Sakura added as she helped Madison finish off the wings which had been a real pain to get right. "I don't know about you but I don't want to miss school bad enough to put up with another day like yesterday."

"Speak for yourself. You don't have Masterson for history." Was Syaoran's two cents on that little comment. "But yeah, you're right. We do need to go looking for that card and seal her as soon as possible. Without Storm she probably can't do as much damage as she did yesterday but give her time to conserve her energy and who knows what she's capable of doing."

I

"What I want to know is why you two always refer to the cards as female." Madison said with a laugh as she stood back to admire their handiwork with the others. "I mean they're cards, it's not like they have genders."

"But aren't all natural disasters named after women?" Syaoran pointed out, grinning when the two women in his company gave him dark looks. "Well you know I'm right. But actually, the reason I referred to Snow and Storm as female is because that's how they're presented in card form. Time is a guy so I'd refer to that card as a male when Sakura catches him."

"Well the cards were created by a guy. I guess I should just be thankful that they're all fully clothed." Sakura said with a laugh, crossing her arms in front of her.

"If that were the case I might actually fight you for some of them."

"SYAORAN!"

Grinning at the two who'd simultaneously yelled his name Syaoran shoved his hands in his pockets as he rocked back on his heels. "So as you were saying, we need to go on a Snow Card hunt."

"You know what, Sakura? I think we need to pelt him with snow balls until he cries for mercy." Madison announced as she picked up a large handful of snow and began to shape it between her gloved hands. "What do you think?"

"I think you're absolutely right Madison. That's EXACTLY what he needs. What do you think, Kero?"

"Take him down, ladies. Take him down."

"You heard my guardian beast. You are going down, boy!" Chucking a snowball at Syaoran's head Sakura gave a whoop as he deftly dunked out of the way before trying to run off towards the backyard.

I

The problem with that was the fact that where the snow hadn't bee shoveled or trampled it was still knee high, making running impossible. Hell, it made walking damn near impossible. Doing his best to do both Syaoran was soon being pelted with so many snowballs that he stopped and returned fire so that it was an all out two on one snowball fight. With the girls steadily moving towards him Syaoran's cries for uncle didn't get him anywhere.

"None of my uncles or yours are here to save you now." Sakura pointed out wickedly as she threw a ball into his chest. "Any last words before we thoroughly snowball your ass?"

"Uhm...you wouldn't really do that to your poor cousin, now would you?" Syaoran said with a hopefully look as he sent his cousin his most lovable look.

"I would do this to my own brother." Sakura pointed out with a laugh. "So asta la viesta, baby."

They then proceeded to snowball his ass. And every other inch below and above. Without mercy. Kero cheered them on.


	9. Those Are the Breaks

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put them in. Everything else belongs to somebody else and that's just the ways it's gotta be. Thanks to all my loyal readers out there and please keep reviewing because I love to hear from you. Thanks again and have an awesome day!

Those Are the Breaks

Sitting in the family room Sakura glared at the television without really seeing what was on, too pissed off at the moment to care. Her arm hurt like hell and if the pain killers didn't kick in soon she was going to start making her discomfort known in very loud, vocal methods. Glaring at the cast on her right arm Sakura had yet to run out of four and five letter words to call the Snow Card who'd literally blown her off the school roof. If it hadn't been for the huge snow drifts the card had caused Sakura had no trouble envisioning being stuck in a body cast rather than her current small one. But she'd caught the damn thing, that was something at least. Unfortunately it also meant that for the next couple of months she was going to have to face down cards with only one good hand which wasn't even her good one to begin with. Damn stupid card. See if I let you out of confinement any time soon, Sakura thought bitterly, turning the TV off since she wasn't paying any attention anyway. Plus she'd gotten yelled at for being on the roof in the first place which wasn't fair since the damn card had been trying to bury the school at the time. Like she'd had any choice in the matter, not that she could have explained the situation to the principal without being hauled out for a CAT scan. The things she put up with to save the entire student population, Sakura thought darkly, tossing the clicker onto the coffee table as she got to her feet.

"Where are you going, Sakura?" Kero wanted to know, looking up from the bowl that had once held grapes but was now completely empty thanks to his bottomless appetite.

"No idea, just out somewhere. Maybe the park."

* * *

"Can I come with you? I don't want Solo to find me again." The guardian beast of the sun had recently been traumatized by Solo who had decided to have a little fun with what he thought was Sakura's stuffed animal. It had taken forever to get off the permanent marker Solo had used to draw huge glasses around Kero's eyes. It had taken everything Sakura had to bribe Kero out of his plans to kill her god brother once he reached his true form.

"He won't do it again." Sakura pointed out, still sorta amused by the prank Solo had pulled. Not that she was stupid enough to let Kero know that. For a so called guardian of massive power he sure had one sensitive ego. "But yeah, if you want to I suppose you could." Motioning Kero to follow her since no one was home the two trooped down her stairs and after making sure the coast was clear quietly made their way downstairs where Sakura quickly got into her coat and boots, wincing as she slid her casted arm through the sleeve before returning it back into the sling. Digging out a hat from the closet that went on, followed by the innovative use of one of her dad's old mitts to go over her casted hand while using one of her own for the other. All set and Kero nestled snugly in her pocket, the two set out, Sakura opening and closing the door as quietly as possible before locking it behind her. She knew her mother and Aunt Katie would scold her for going out in her present condition but she was sick of staying inside and even sicker of being babied. Being more careful than usual about where she stepped Sakura carefully made her way to the street, giving silent thanks that Solo had moved his lazy ass to shovel it. The less snow she had to trudge through the better. Plus, falling right now would be a really bad idea. Home arrest because she'd gone and broken something else held no appeal. Getting within a block of the park without trouble Sakura paused when she heard the sound of her name being called from across the street. Turning she saw Leah coming towards her at a light jog, her friend bundled up from head to toe. That's what happens when you had a doctor for a mother, Sakura thought in amusement as she waited for her friend to catch up.

"Thought that was you." Breathing heavily Leah paused to catch her breath once she'd reached Sakura's side. "What are you doing out in this?"

"Needed the fresh air. You?"

"Pretty much the same." Tugging on the scarf her mother had forced on her Leah wished she could take it off so that she could breathe properly. But her mother would know somehow if she did. She always knew. Mothers were creepy that way. "So where are you headed? The park?"

"Yup, want to join me? I figured once around the park than home before mom realizes I escaped and calls out the calvary."

"Sure." Nodding Leah linked arms with her god sister and together the two headed for the park trail.

* * *

They'd only been walking about ten minutes when they both began to get the distinct feeling that they were being watched. And followed. Instincts that had been bred into their very bones they exchanged knowing glances, their senses on high alert as they casually scanned their surroundings, waiting for their watcher to give his or her position away. Whoever it was was good but they were better. They were trained by soldiers after all and no one was more concerned about their safety than their fathers and honorary uncles.

"At two o'clock." Leah murmured under her breath, having caught a flash of motion just before whoever it was disappeared behind a large oak tree.

Having caught it as well Sakura gave a faint nod of agreement. "Guessing male." Of course there were women out there who could top six feet but she was betting male by the shape and build. Hmm, now who could it be and why? Which of them was the target and was this persona going to stick with simple observation or was he going to show himself in a much more confrontational way? Damn, her arm. Any predator would look at her current disability the way fat people looked at all you can eat buffets at half price. Leah was small and delicate looking too. To look at her you'd never think that she could break a man in half if she decided to put her mind to it. They must look like sitting ducks. That was better than the alternative though. Better to be dealing with some unknown assehole than someone who was after them because of their parents and their political connections. "Plan?"

"Beat the hell out him?"

"Well that goes without saying."

Analyzing the situation Leah cursed the fact that there was snow drifts everywhere. It was damn hard to rush someone when you never knew when you'd step down and end up knee high in snow. Plus, with Sakura's arm the way it was, it probably wasn't a good idea to rush off in case this guy had a friend waiting somewhere. "Maybe we should call someone?" As much as it went against every bit of her considerable ego Leah couldn't justify risking Sakura's life because she hated to ask for help.

"No time, here he comes." Turning their heads to watch the two girls never took their eyes off the man as he moved out of the shadows, dressed all in black as he weaved in and out of the tree with a confidence that set their nerves on end.

* * *

He was making no attempt to hide himself now and Sakura got a feeling deep in her gut that made her thinking they were in a lot more trouble than she'd previously thought. There was just something about this guy that set her teeth on edge. "Recognize him?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"He looks a little like that bastard Li Syaoran!" Eyes flashing Leah instantly went into serious ass kicking mode, the thought of most hated rival pumping her up. This obviously wasn't Li, he was taller and bigger than her rival, but there was some similarities in the face and definitely the eyes.

"And you're that little bitch that faced off with my dear cousin, aren't you? I didn't recognize you before." Obviously not pleased by the discovery Sakura guess that she was right in having thought he'd dismissed Leah as little threat. Now he was realizing his mistake. And wait...if he was Syaoran's cousin..he was her cousin too? Uh oh.

"You're that bastard's cousin? Is he here too?" Leah demanded to know, looking around for any sign that this guy wasn't alone. She doubted he would be, Syaoran hadn't struck her as the sort of guy that would sneak up on his prey. He'd struck her as being as up front and confrontational as she was.

Sneering the young man gave a jerk of his shoulders. He looked to be in his early twenties and it was obvious he didn't like his cousin any more than Leah did since he felt no need to object to Leah's name calling. "I don't know where that little prick is. Probably off somewhere trying to find a new technique to use against you. Apparently he was pretty pissed about missing a chance for a rematch with you. Not that that matters right now. Buzz off, Chang. Me and your little friend there have some things to discuss."

"That's your friend and I." Sakura corrected with a smirk, even though she'd begun to sense something that was putting every hair on her head on end. "And I don't have anything to say to any member of the Li Clan so make like a tree and leave before I sic Leah on you and watch her beat you to a bloody pulp." There was magic here and it was definitely coming from her cousin's direction. Her gut said it wasn't coming from him personally either. But he had in his possession something that was very magically charged and she had a really bad feeling that she knew exactly what he had.

"Do you really think her brute strength can protect her from the power of the cards, Yuy?"

Damn. He had a card, maybe more than one. They were in something, something that was blocking her ability to sense them. A smart move, since it would have made him easy to find. Obviously it had been too much to hope that the clan would start off sending their stupidest members and work their way up like normal cartoon villains. "This has nothing to do with, Leah, leave her out of it."

"I'd be happy to. If she leaves now."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Then why don't I introduce you to the Fight Card, Miss. Chang. I'm sure you two have plenty to fight about."

* * *

The sounds of screeching tires filled the air as multiple vehicles came to loud stops that the snow barely muffled. Men and women of various ages piling out of vehicles, soon running across snow, their faces cold and deadly while Wufei Chang and Heero Yuy consulted the transmitters that would home in on their daughters' locations. Both girls had set off their distress signals ten minutes ago and everyone knew that the situation had to be very bad for either girl to call out for help. For the moment the girls were still in the park which was both good and bad news. Good because it meant they were close by but bad because it meant something was keeping them there rather than allowing them to return home. They could also be physically unable to move and that was scariest of all. Most of them were armed, some really didn't need to be as they ran down the narrow walking path, their eyes noting and computing the two sets of foot prints that were visible in the snow. Sakura and Leah's.

"There!"

Everyone looking in the direction Kyle was pointing they changed direction as they picked up speed, Wufei's transmitter indicating just which of the girls was the one laying propped up against a tree. Two coats were tucked around her, one that no one recognized while the other was Sakura's. She wasn't moving. While Heero, Solo, Duo, Quatre, Jake and Relena continued off in the direction of Sakura's transmitter the rest stopped to get a sense of Leah's condition and the situation at hand. Pulling back the coats Wufei made a sound of fury at the bruises that were spread out all over his daughter's face, which was pale wherever the skin wasn't breaking out into a rainbow of colors. Sally placing a shaking hand against her daughter neck she felt for a pulse, finding it strong, if a bit off beat.

Feeling around for broken bones Sally and Wufei gave sighs of relief when it became apparent that there was no visible damage to suggest their daughter's well being was in any danger, though with all the winter gear it was hard to tell. She was safe and they were sure as hell not going to let anyone near her. "We need to get her somewhere warm so that I can look her over." Sally declared, watching her husband gently pick his daughter up to cradle her against his chest.

"I wonder whose coat this is." Kyle remarked, picking the unknown red coat up to get a better look at it while Trowa picked up Sakura's to look for signs of blood, finding her stuffed yellow lion in one pocket but no blood. "It definitely isn't Sakura or Brad's." Holding it close to his nose Kyle's left eyebrow shot up in surprise as he recognized the scent. "Hey, this smells like that cologne Leah got that Jet kid for his birthday."

"He must have been with them. Maybe he's with Sakura now." Not that Trowa thought that the kid would be all that big a help but he was better than nothing. "You get Leah out of here, the rest of us will help find the others."

Agreeing Wufei and Sally headed back towards their vehicle with Kyle leading the way, the rest heading off in the direction Heero and the others had disappeared to.

* * *

"So far, I think you're the only cousin I like." Sakura announced as they made their way through the park, on their way back to Leah. Shivering both were freezing their asses off, since they'd both ditched their coats in order to have more flexibility during the fight. You needed every advantage you could get when you were fighting a highly skilled martial artist who had combined his own considerable strength with that of the Fight Card. Her good arm wrapped around Syaoran's neck Sakura could only wonder how they were all going to get out of the park with only Syaoran to carry them. Leah had been out of it when they'd gone chasing after Itachi and Sakura doubted she'd be up to walking when they got back. For herself, she was so tuckered out from using her magic, she didn't even want to think about moving under her own steam. Stupid cards, coming at her back to back so that she didn't have time to recharge.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Syaoran agreed, wincing as he managed a slightly lopsided grin. "Itachi always was one mean son of a bitch. He was the best our clan had in the martial arts, up until I came onto the scene. He'd still be competing but he was banned after he nearly killed someone during a match. Luckily a teammate of the other guy jumped in before Itachi could finish playing with the shape of the other guy's spine."

"Lovely. Well I can definitely see why you were a match for Leah. You were awesome out there."

"Only because Leah had given him a pretty thorough ass kicking before I got there. It was really a smart idea, you using the Power Card. No wonder you're exhausted. Your magic is getting really amazing, that you could actually infuse Leah with Power's strength." Unfortunately, along with Fight his cousin had also picked up The Twin Card, which had allowed him to make two of himself. Now there was the stuff of nightmares. Leah could have definitely kicked Itachi's butt by herself, even with the Fight Card. Not even he would have stood a chance alone against two Itachi's. All three of them had had had to gang up on the two and even then they'd nearly gotten their asses handed to them. Thankfully the Fight Card had been weakened to the point where she'd left Itachi and returned to card form by the time Leah had gone down, otherwise they'd have been really screwed. Well that and Itachi was essentially a coward, which had led the bastard to take off running once he'd realized that even with two of himself he wasn't strong enough to take on his cousins without the Fight Card.

"May I not have to do that ever again. That sort of power in a Chang's hand is damn scary."

"You said it." Syaoran agreed, not even wanting to think about what Leah would do to him with that sort of power. Well to him when she found out who he really was. "Now we just have to get back and erase her memories before she remembers suddenly being able to punch a guy hard enough to make him crack a tree nearly in half on impact."

"Yeah, thinking she can do that would really go to her head."

"Well I'm just glad that Kero had the sense to activate that homing device you gave me so that I could find you when you guys got into trouble. I don't even want to think about what he would have done to you and Leah if I hadn't gotten there when I did." As it was, he was going to have nightmares about it. He'd shown up just in time to watch his cousin send Leah flying with a vicious kick to the stomach that was bound to have bruised some ribs, if not cracked them. For that alone he was ready to kill Itachi with his bare hands the next time he found the bastard. They'd gone running after the bastard when he'd turned tail and run, but they'd lost him in the trees.

"I don't want to think about it either. After the whole arm thing, my parents would have gone ballistic if I'd ended up unconscious and needing a body cast this soon. As it is, I'm so grounded."

"Better that than dead."

"True. But coming up with some sort of explanation for all this is going to be a bitch."

"Definitely."


End file.
